Road Trip
by IlovetowriteSMP
Summary: COMPLETE. Lulu, Jason, Carly and Milo hit the road to track down Spinelli. A silly and sweet tale about soulmates.
1. All aboard

"I'm driving!" Lulu insisted. She sat behind the drivers seat, with the window halfway rolled down, and the door locked.

"No, you're not." Jason told her

Milo and Max watched the two bicker for a few moments.

"Am too!"  
"Let me in."

"Say I can drive."

"Open the door. Now."

In a sweet little girl voice she implored, "Say it."

Jason let out a long breath. "You are working my last nerve, Spencer."

Lulu's face suddenly softened, her lip jutted out. "You're mean."

"Unlock the door!" 

She wailed, "I'm not going anywhere with you!" 

Milo stepped forward, "Lulu, Jason is only trying to help Sam. He needs your help in order to do that. You have to trust him. Can you please unlock the door now?"

Lulu looked at Milo, and said sweetly, " You are _so_ nice. Why couldn't Jason just ask me like that?"

She focused on Jason again. "I'm not going on this trip without Milo."

"No way in hell that is happening." Jason said, jerking on the door. He turned to Max. "Go find the extra set of keys."

Max hurried inside just as Carly came running up.

Carly cried, "Oh, thank God I found you, Jase. It's awful." She scrunched her eyes, and sniffled, which made Jason's heart ache. " I can't believe this is happening!"

"What?"

Carly had tears on her face. "Jax says he is moving to Australia and if I don't come with him than the wedding is off. I said I couldn't move and he...left. He left me, Jason. He's gone." She fell into her best friends arms.

"I'm sorry," Jason murmured. And once again he was the one apologizing for the way another man had hurt her.

He pulled her closer and more into the hug. His leg throbbed from the wound that wasn't healed yet but he could only think of her pain in that moment.

"I can't deal with this alone," Carly moaned, with her face pressed against his chest. "Help me make this right."

He stepped back and looked at her. "We can talk about this later, okay? Figure out a way to get Jax to change his mind, if that is what you want."

"_Later? _I need you now."

Milo moved close to Lulu's window. He said happily, "Thanks for inviting me along."

Lulu said, "Sure. You are at least civil to me. I can not be stuck in this car alone _with him _for hours."

Carly raised an eyebrow. "Where are you two going?"

Jason explained why they had to go find Spinelli in Tennessee.

"I'm coming with," Carly announced. "I could use to get away from here. Sonny is going to have the kids for a few days anyway. And I can not sit at home, thinking about Jax and why he left me..." Her voice grew soft.

Max came out of the house again.

Jason stuck out his hand. "You got the key?"

Max looked down. "Uh...looks like we misplaced the spare set."

Jason groaned.

He turned back to Lulu. "Now you need to stop playing games. Let me in or else I'm breaking that window and we can drive down there with a permanent breeze messing up your hair."

She glared at him. "Not without Milo."

"Ugh! Fine, fine, fine! Milo get in. We are wasting so much time." Jason said

Lulu flipped the lock and then moved into the back seat, Milo climbed in next to her.

Jason started to get in the car.

Carly asked, "Jase?" She flashed her sad eyes at him.

He sighed, knowing he couldn't say no. "You can come."

Carly smiled and jogged around the car. When they were all inside, she said, "I haven't done this is years."

"What?" asked Lulu

"Gone on a road trip." Carly said "Won't this be fun, Jase?"

Jason shook his head, started the car, and drove off in silence.


	2. Bounce with me

**Chapter two**

They headed out of town.

Carly and Lulu gabbed non stop. Lulu filled Carly in on Spinelli and how Lulu helped to save Jason's life. Carly told her she had been very brave and smart.

Jason muttered, "Don't encourage her."

They kept talking for an hour.

Jason finally butted in again and asked Carly, "Do you have any aspirin on you?"

"Is your leg hurting?" She dug in her purse and handed him some. "You need something to drink."

Milo said, "I packed a lunch. That is if Lulu doesn't mind sharing?"

"I guess." Lulu said

Milo fished in the back and then passed Jason a water.

After that, Milo pulled a ipod out of his pocket.

Lulu was slouched down next to him, her knees resting against the seat in front of her. Every time they went over a bump, her foot slammed into the seat.

"Do you think you can stop kicking me?" Jason barked at her

"Meanie!" she called out and kicked him again. Then she straightened up. She reached over and put her hand over Milo's, aiming the music player toward her. "What you listening to?"

"The...um..." He couldn't remember. All he could do was marvel at the fact she was touching him.

"Hmm?" She let go of his hand.

"The Fray."

"Oh, I love them!" Lulu cried "Share." She scooted closer and slid one head phone from his ear and into hers.

Milo swallowed, the song forgotten,, as he focused on the beautiful girl next to him.

Lulu sang the words, softly, getting some of them wrong. Milo thought she sounded like an angel. Her blue eyes connected with his eyes, she smiled shyly and stopped singing.

He closed his eyes, unable to keep eye contact with her and still resist the urge to kiss her.

Carly said to Jason, "You should let Milo drive."

"I'm fine."

"You do not have to do everything on your own. Lean on someone once in a while." Sweetly, she added, " It will not kill you, I promise."

Jason looked at her. Then nodded. At the next expressway exit he pulled off and into a gas station.

Lulu bounded out of the car, saying "I need chocolate."

Milo stared after her with a goofy grin on his face.

Jason turned, looked at Milo, and groaned "Well, go after her!"

"Uh, course, sure, sure, I'm going." Milo said as he hurried from the car.

"They are so cute." Carly said, smiling.

Jason shook his head.

"I hope Lulu," Carly continued "gives him a fair shot."

Carly sighed and added, "But I doubt she sees him as anything more than The Bodyguard." Her voice grew soft, "Isn't that sad, Jase?"

"No, not really."

"But Lulu might miss out of the love of her life!" Carly slapped his arm. "How is that _not_ sad?"

"Love of her...oh, geez." Jason grumbled. "Just butt out of it, okay? I can't believe you would want her mixed up in our world."

Carly sighed. "I guess you're right. But it's tragic. Milo really has it bad for her."

Jason rolled his eyes. "She can't handle our lifestyle." 

"She's a Spencer. She can handle anything."

Jason told her, " She's a kid. A loud mouthed reckless one at that."

"That's how all teenagers are." Carly argued. "Michael will be the same way when he is her age."

"Oh, no. Don't even say that! He will not be back talking us like she does. What we say goes."

Carly chuckled. "We shall see."

Jason got out of the car and into the back seat, Carly joined him.

With the car's interior light on, she looked down at his wound.

"How is you leg feeling?" she asked

"Like I got shot."

"On a scale of one to ten, what is your pain level?"

"You sound like a nurse."

"I almost was one."

He rolled his eyes. "Almost is a stretch."

"Pain level?" she insisted

"Six."

Carly said, "That means more like nine. Because you underestimate things all the time."

"If you say so."

She gave him a look, caught his eye, and said softly "I know so."

Jason was mulling over what that meant when the tornado of youth hit the car again. Lulu had a bag full of snacks and Milo carried two slurpees.

Lulu tossed some candy bars into the back seat.

"Hey!" Jason objected as a candy hit his forehead.

She said "You owe me three bucks for those."

"I never asked you to get me anything," Jason said.

Lulu smiled at him, "You're welcome."

Milo was staring at Lulu again.

"What is the hold up?" Jason asked, annoyed. "Drive, Milo!"

"Okay, sure, getting right on that, boss."

Jason whispered to Carly, "Can you do something about your cousin?"

"Like what?" Carly asked, amused. "Tranquilize her?"

"Works for me," Jason said.

"I heard that!" Lulu called out. Then to Milo she said, "I told you he's a mean one. I see why Carly chose Sonny instead."

Carly's hand flew to cover her mouth.

Jason's eyes were huge.

Carly said, in a firm mommy voice, "Lesley Lou Spencer, that is quite enough out of you. I think Jason could use a little quiet for a few hours so he can rest."

"Okay," Lulu said in a small voice. "Sorry."

Carly looked at Jason but he was staring out the window.

Carly leaned over, until her mouth was at his ear, and said, "She doesn't know what she's talking about."

Jason kept his gaze out the window.

Carly moved back to her own side of the backseat. Both were lost in their own thoughts for a while.

After thirty minutes passed, Lulu flipped on the radio, cranking the volume high.

Jay- z rapped, "_Can ya bounce with me, bounce with me_

_Ya-yah-yah bounce with me,"_

Lulu sang along, off key, "_Can I hit in the morning without giving you half of my dough _

_And even worse if I was broke would you want me? If I couldn't get you finer things like all of them diamond rings people kill for would you still roll?"_

Milo joined in, in an exaggerated thug voice, "_If we couldn't see the sun rising off the shore of Thailand would you ride then, if I wasn't dropping?"  
_

Jason groaned, "Carly, can you make it stop!"

"Off." Carly commanded, though she did think the kids were really cute as they were jamming along to the music.

Still she didn't want Jason to get any more of a headache than he already had.

Lulu sighed and turned off the radio.

She whispered to Milo, "Some road trip, huh? We should have went alone. Then we could really have some fun. See Grace Land and then hit all the cool blues clubs in Memphis. Doesn't that sound like a blast?"

Milo nodded, his smile was huge. He imagined dancing with Lulu is some club where the light were turned down the low, and the song was some bittersweet lullaby.

Her voice low she suggested to him, "Maybe we could sneak away."

"Lulu." Carly warned.

"Maybe not." Lulu said , in a normal volume of her voice.

Carly wondered where Jax was now. Halfway to Australia probably. Would he come back for the wedding? For her? Had he meant the

words he said when he told her it was over?

_If I can't make it work with him_, Carly thought, _who can I?_

_Every man I date is going to want more of my time than Sonny gets, more of my heart than Jason has, is going to want to come first, _Carly told herself. _But my life is already decided. I can't move away or change who I am. _

The commitments she made, she intended to keep. She scooted over, till her shoulder touched Jason, and then took his hand in hers.

Jason said softly, "Thinking about Jax?"

Carly rested her head on his shoulder.

"It will all work out," Jason said "In the end."

_In the end_, Carly thought, _I want to be just like this_.

With Jason, her body touching his, their hands intertwined, and the future unknown, the only sure thing that they would be together.

So she said back to him, "I have no doubts that it will."


	3. Bump in the night

NOTE- This is mainly meant to be funny with a little romance thrown in.

Happy New Year Everyone. Have a great holiday,

Sara

**Chapter Three- Bump in the Night**

**Night had faded into morning**, the daylight hours were spent zooming down a highway, and when they finally reached Tennessee the sun started to fall.

They circled the town of Oakfield for hours, looking for Spinelli's grandmother's house.

"They all look alike," Lulu whined. "It's too dark to tell which one is like what I saw in the picture."

"Keep trying." Jason insisted.

Gently Carly said, "She's right. We should call this off until morning, Jase."

He groaned.

"Or," Carly said "We can spend all night together in this car, getting on each other's nerves."

"Fine. Lets find a hotel," Jason said.

Lulu smiled at Milo, thinking it would be great to be free of this car.

Milo swallowed, thinking it would be great to see Lulu in the night shirt he packed her. It was girly, pink and hung to her knees.

Once they got into the hotel room, Jason opened an adjoining door and said to Lulu, in a firm voice, "Get some rest. We start back out at dawn."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Lulu saluted him.

"So..." Milo let the word drag out, trying to sound casual "how are we handling these sleeping arraignments?"

Jason shot him a look.

Carly smirked and said, "I know what I would prefer."

"There are two beds in each room," Lulu said "So I say youth in one and old fogies in..."

Jason glared at her.

" I mean, you two in the other." Lulu finished.

Milo said, "Makes sense." and starting walking into the adjoining room.

Jason grabbed the back of his collar. "You're in here with me."

Lulu gave Milo a flirty wave before following Carly into the other room.

**LONG AFTER LULU fell **asleep, Carly stepped onto the balcony. The night sky cast the area in darkness, with the only light coming from around the pool which was in the courtyard ten floor below.

Carly called Jax on her cell phone.

His voice mail picked up. Carly said, in a hurt filled voice, "Hey, where are you? Did you really go to Australia? Are you staying there? What is going on with us? What about the wedding? Come on, Jax, you have to talk to me. Everything can't just be over, just like that. Jax... call me back."

She hung up.

"Carly."

She turned at the sound of the whispered word, and saw Jason sitting on a chair on the balcony next to her, the one that went with his room.

"Hey, I didn't even realize you were there," she said softly. "You should be asleep."

"You should too."

"Are you worrying about Sam? We'll find Spinelli tomorrow. Don't worry, Jase."

"I can't believe I am relying on a sixteen year old to help me."

"She's eighteen. And Lulu will come through. You have to be more patient with her."

"Ha."

Carly chuckled. "I would love to see you raising a teenager daughter. Being in over protective daddy mode. Worrying about the kind of guys she was bringing home or, more than likely, not bringing home so you wouldn't be able to scare them off."

Jason shook his head, shuddering. But then a small smile curved his lips.

"It will happen, one day." Carly said

"Lets worry about tomorrow, not one day." Jason said, but he couldn't stop smiling. Carly could make him imagine things he otherwise never would.

But it's not like he wanted to encourage her to dream of things that might never be.

_Maybe_, he thought as he smiled, _she can't see me since it is so dark._

But she didn't have to see him to know what he was thinking, feeling, or doing. And they both knew that.

**INSIDE, Lulu woke up and **wandered to the bathroom. On her way back, she noticed the door between the rooms were open. She walked over and leaned on the door frame, watching Milo sleep.

His face was relaxed, a portrait of innocence.

She noticed the other bed was empty. This would be the perfect time to wake up Milo and sneak off to have some fun, because Jason would never let them have any when he was around.

Lulu crept into the room. She gently shook Milo. His chest was bare, the blanket covered the rest of him.

"Hey," she said softly.

He rolled toward her.

"Milo," she said. She shook her some more, leaning closer. She could smell the faint scent of soap on his skin.

Around his neck, he wore a medallion. She wondered what it might symbolize.

"Lulu," he said, still asleep. "Beautiful Lulu..."

She smiled and stepped back.

Milo softly snored.

Lulu giggled and headed back to bed.

**SPINELLI was at his computer**, in the spare room at his grandmother's house.

_Murder, She Wrote _blasted out of the TV his grandma was watching in the living room.

He would have to remember, he decided in that moment, to get her some new batteries for her hearing aid for Christmas. But first he would have to remember to borrow some money from her.

These days thinking about anything- beyond computer codes, hot chicks, computer games, even hotter chicks, and that some mobster dude wanted to kill him- was pretty hard to do so, he figured, Grandma was probably out of luck for any Christmas gift at all.

"AHHH!" Grandma Spinelli yelled

"It's just a show, geez." Spinelli mumbled. " The butler probably did it. Nothing to get worked up about."

He continued typing away. He was writing a email to Lulu. So far it read

_Hey Blonde One,_

_Sorry I had to cut out on you- and the whole being held captive thing- but I kinda like breathing, so I figured it was best to bail._

_But it wasn't nothing personal. Okay?_

_When the dudes (who shall remain nameless in case anyone else reads this) stop hunting me down, I will be back. And then, maybe, we could chill or something? _

Spinelli was trying to think of a better way to ask her if she wanted to go out some time or if not, did she think Sam might leave Jason for The Jackal, when he heard the sound of glass breaking in the other room.

**CRASH.**

"Where is he?" a man with a Spanish accent demanded to know.

Spinelli froze.

_That crazy Alcazar dude's goons got my Grammy_! he thought to himself


	4. Spinelli Hunting

**Chapter Four- Spinelli Hunting**

_NOTE- I haven't quite finished writing this fic yet. So far it has ten chapters and an epilogue. The whole tone stays silly throughout, for the most part._

_For anyone wondering about my other current fanfic **The Five**, I should be updating it within a few days. Hope all is well with each of you. Wishing you a happy 2007!_

_Sara_

**THE NEXT MORNING**

Jason was dressed by 5:55 am. He grabbed the car keys and called out, "Lets go!"

Carly walked into Jason's room. She was wearing a t-shirt he gave her to sleep in.

"I need to do some shopping before we go Spinelli Hunting," she said.

"Shopping?" Jason shook his head. " Are you kidding me? We don't have time for that."

Milo was sitting over at the nearby table, eating cereal he ordered from room service. Lulu was still in the bathroom getting ready.

"You made me leave Port Charles in such a hurry," Carly whined "I didn't have time to pack."

"You could have stayed home." Jason told her

There eyes met, him glaring at her playfully. She crinkled her nose at him.

Carly relented, "Fine. No shopping. You can loan me something."

Milo chimed in, "Got one for me? I could use a fresh shirt myself."

Jason turned and gave him a flabbergasted look.

Milo sniffed his shirt, and said "Fresh enough , I guess."

Jason shook his head at him then turned back to Carly, "Ask Lulu."

She went over and started rifling through his bag.

"Lulu wears a different size than me." Carly said

Jason went and took his bag from her and said, "Make do. And be ready in five minutes. Because Lulu and I are leaving with or without you two stowaways."

Carly gave him a smile, and said, "Whatever you say, Jase. You know me, you say it I do it."

She turned and headed back to her own room, swinging her hips, seductively.

Jason mumbled, "Sure you do, in my dreams."

Carly called out, over her shoulder, "Good to know you still dream about me!"

**AN HOUR LATER**, they were driving around the town of Oakfield.

Milo and Carly were both munching on donuts. Carly had forced Jason to pull over and buy them before they started searching.

"We are _never _going to find him," Lulu whined from the backseat. "Everything around here looks the same."

She started pointing out the window. "Tree. Hill. Tree. And another hill. Look, Milo, there is a tree and, wow, a_nother_ hill."

Milo laughed softly.

There was annoyance in Jason's voice when he snapped at Lulu, "Are you even trying?"

"It's pointless. You might as well turn this car around and point us back north." Lulu told him. "Spinelli is gone like the wind. He is as gone as my mom who lost her mind because she killed Rick Webber. Just like I will probably lose my mind one day too and then..."

"Focus, Lulu." Carly said "Tell us one more time what the house in the picture looked like."

"Ugh! Okay, fine. It had," she recounted every detail she could remember. The last thing she mentioned was a sign.

"A sign!" Jason roared

"Yeah, I totally told you that." lulu said

"You totally did not." Jason said, grabbing his phone to call Stan.

"I remember her telling you that." Milo said

Jason glared at him in the rearview mirror. Milo shrank back.

Lulu whispered to Milo, "He's losing his memory already. How old is he?"

Milo whispered, " Not that old, I don't think. Thirty something."

"It's sad." Lulu said "To be senile already."

Milo nodded, happy to agree to anything she said.

**Jason relied the** new information to Stan.

Stan said, "I will get right back to you." and then hung up.

"Glad you are done with the phone." Carly said "I need to call Jax and my cell battery is dead."

"Jax can wait." Jason said

"I know you don't care about if my wedding gets called off but I do." Carly said "I just don't know what to do about this whole situation. Jax is being so stubborn. Why do I always have the worst luck when it comes to love? Can you tell me that, Jase?"

"I have no idea."

"Well, I do. Because of you." Carly said

"Not now."

"You dumped me and caused me to seek comfort in the arms of other lesser men."

"Dumped you?" He screeched out the words

"You dumped my cousin?" Lulu asked "How rude. You are not going to do better than Carly!"

"Look out the window," Jason ordered Lulu.

Lulu asked him, "Why did you dump her?"

"Tell her, Jason." Carly said

Jason didn't answer, instead he focused on the road.

Lulu said, "We are all waiting, Jason."

He hissed, "I didn't dump her. And look out the damn window."

He turned around and pointed at the window.

Lulu turned and looked out it. "I was only trying to help. You wouldn't be so angry if you didn't keep denying yourself love, Jason."

Carly smiled, "I completely agree."

The cell phone rang.

Jason snatched it up. "Yeah?"

"I got the address." Stan said "But I found a report online when I got into the Oakfield Police Department records. There was a 911 call about shots fired at that residence just last night."

Jason spit out a curse word.

"Anger issues," Lulu said. "You should see someone about that."

Jason looked at Carly. "Alcazar beat us to Spinelli."

The whole car got deathly silent.


	5. Car Games

**ROAD TRIP**

**_NOTE- Thanks for the reviews. They make me smile! You're wonderful for taking the time. _**

**_When Jason and Lulu took off for Tennessee I couldn't help wishing Milo and Carly tagged along. Thanks to you all taking the time to read this I have a reason to write my fantasy down._**

_**Sara**_

**Chapter Five- Car Games**

**TWENTY MINUTES LATER**, they pulled up at the house.

Jason turned to Carly, "Stay here and keep _her _containedOkay?"

Carly nodded, serious now.

She would rather eat broken glass then ever let Jason Morgan down again. Once in a lifetime was enough.

If he had ever let her down, she couldn't admit it to herself. She couldn't see most of his faults. And the ones she did she instantly forgave him for, in the span of a blink, just like that.

Because she loved him.

As Jason climbed out of the car, her heart raced. She knew he went into danger everyday but she didn't want to ever have a front row seat for it.

Lulu asked Milo," Do you think Spinelli is dead?"

Milo let out a breath, not wanting to lie. He slowly touched her hand, their eyes held.

Jason banged on the window, knocking Milo out of his daze. Milo got out of the car and Jason gave him an annoyed look.

"Sorry," Milo muttered.

Jason pointed toward the back of the house, telling Milo to go around there while Jason went in the front. Their were no cars in the driveway or nearby, and he doubted Alcazar's men were still there, but they had to be sure.

Jason went to the window and looked inside. The house looked abandoned.

He looked at the front door and noticed it was slightly ajar. He crept inside. Lamps were knocked over, a vase was broken, there was a spent shot gun casing and a trail of blood that lead down a hall.

Jason followed the trial and found a bedroom, there was a large blood stain on the floor.

He made his way to the kitchen and let Milo in the back door.

"Check out upstairs," Jason said

Jason went back to the living room. The phone rang. He picked it up but didn't say anything.

"I know it's you, Mobster dude." said the squeaky voice on the other end. Then he laughed "It's me, man, The Jackal."

"Where _the hell _are you?" Jason asked

"In hiding, man. But I see you. Grammy's place is wired with cameras and I hacked into the security system on my laptop. She's kind of paranoid so she got the cameras after 9-11. She said Osama wouldn't be trying to sneak up on her."

"Spinelli." Jason said the word slowly, in frustration.

"What, dude?"

"Was there a shooting here last night?"

"Oh yeah, man. It was psychedelic. The Godfather live and in _living color._" Spinelli started to sing the theme song to the comedy sketch show, "_You can do what you want to do, in living color. In living color!"_

Then he said "Get what I mean, man?"

"No." Jason said. He let out a breath.

Milo came downstairs. "Nothing up there, boss."

"Go back to the car," Jason said to him. Then to Spinelli "Tell me where you are."

"So I can get slaughtered like a Drew Barrymore in Scream? No, that's all right. Me and Grammy are cool on our own. Why don't you go back home and kill Crazy Alky and then it'll be all good in the hood, right?"

"Sam needs you to testify! If she is convicted because your silly ass is making me chase you all over half the country I swear to ..." Jason yelled at him

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay. You are scaring me, hitman killer dude."

"You have five seconds left, Spinelli. Five seconds to tell me the address of where you are and then I lose my patience and if that happens..."

In a scared voice, Spinelli said, "Like, oh no."

"Like yeah." Jason said "Five, four,"

"Hitman killer dude, you have to understand..."

"Three..."

"Morgan... I mean Mr. Morgan... Sir... listen, my Grammy is with me and she doesn't really like your type...gangsters, no offense. it got kinda brutal when they showed up last night and I had to do a little Stone cold Steve Austin type moves on them with some Rock thrown in.. so I don't think..."

"You won't be able to _think_ anything, Spinelli, if I get to one."

" But I'm an innocent caught in this mob war! You can't kill me! I have so much to live for.. so many girls I haven't dated yet... there are a world of babeolious honeys just waiting to meet The Jackal."

"Two!"

"You have a real problem with anger."

"One. All right, have it your way. I'm coming for you, Spinelli."

"Wait! Okay, we can work together. When you say it that way- all sweet and begging- how could I say no?"

Jason gritted his teeth, "The address?"

**OUT IN THE CAR, Milo **and Lulu were in the backseat. Carly was standing outside the car, using Milo's cell phone to try and call Jax again.

Milo said to Lulu, "Yeah, going in that house was no big deal to me. I've been in a few gun fights... I know my way around...yeah..."

"That sounds like a really dumb way to make a living." She said

Milo looked heartbroken.

"Not that I think you're dumb," she corrected. "Actually, you seem intelligent and you just may be the nicest guy I ever met. But you're too good for this kind of lifestyle. I could see you as a artist or teacher or even a priest."

His mouth dropped. "Priest? Um, Lulu," he leaned close to her "I'm not all that sweet."

A challenging look came in her eye. "Oh yeah? Prove it."

She didn't think he would do it, kiss her. Maybe on the cheek. More than likely, she figured, he would blush and scoot away.

But instead he leaned closer, closer, slowly, until his mouth was nearly on hers.

She took in a surprised breath. Then his lips touched hers in a tender kiss that had just a hint of heat to it.

He pulled away first, her eyes were still closed. All her senses were concentrated on how wonderful that felt.

Milo said, "Still think I'm sweet?"

She opened her eyes, "As sweet as they come," she murmured softly.

He stilled, thinking that meant he was boring.

Lulu smiled, "But you probably won't cut it as a priest." She winked at him.

Milo's whole face lit up.

Jason jerked open the door and said, "Spinelli is alive. He's a couple towns away at a rented cabin."

Carly got in the car. She looked at Milo, saw the goofy grin on his face, then her eyes moved to Lulu's flushed face. They shared a look.

"Hmm." Carly said

"What?" Jason asked, starting the car.

Carly faced forward and smiled, "Oh nothing. I just think I was wrong earlier." She was referring to when she thought Lulu might not give Milo a chance.

"About?" Jason asked

"Love."

"Forget I asked," he said

"Isn't it great when people end up with their soul mate?" Carly

sighed happily.

Jason said, "I really wouldn't know." He concentrated on the road.

Carly said, "But one day, Jase, wouldn't you like to find out?"

The question hung in the air, her soft dreamy words causing all of them to imagine a happy ever after somewhere years down the road.

Lulu spoke first, "She asked you a question."

"I _heard_ her." Jason said

"So?" asked Lulu

"So what?" Jason asked "What are we talking about?"

"Soulmates, Sir," Milo said helpfully

Jason shook his head in frustration. He asked, "You want to play a game?"

"A game?" Lulu asked "Finally! I didn't know you knew any car games. What are the rules?"

Jason replied, "Who ever talks first gets left on the side of the interstate."

"Jase!" Carly said, laughing.

"That is the crappiest game ever!" Lulu cried.

"It doesn't really sound like any fun." Milo said "Are you sure you have the rules, right? How about License Plate Bingo instead?"

"I see Tennessee!" Lulu called

"Easy one," said Carly. "I see California."

"I see Hawaii." Milo said

"How would a car get here from Hawaii?" asked Lulu

"Submarine," said Milo

"Of course," said Lulu joking right along with him "That makes perfect sense."

"UGH!" Jason cried, gripping the steering wheel tighter. "No, we are playing The Silent Game. Starting..."

"Meanie!" cried Lulu

"NOW." said Jason


	6. Sunny Delight

**Chapter Six- Sunny Delight**

They made it to the cabin with only a few more arguments. Jason was seriously thinking about stopping for some ear plugs for himself or duct tape to put over Lulu's mouth.

Though if he did, Carly would bitch at him so much he would have to take it off again five seconds later.

So that idea was probably out.

Once they parked the car and climbed out, the door of the cabin opened and Grandma Spinelli was holding a shotgun on them.

"We come in peace!" Lulu yelled, holding her hands up.

"You gangsters leave me and my grandson alone!"

"We only want to ask your grandson for a favor," Jason said "If you will just lower your weapon I can explain why I need his help. I'm Jason Morgan and -"

"He told me everything," Grandma Spinelli said from the porch "Damien stole your girlfriend Sam and now you want him dead."

"What?" asked Carly, with a _are you freaking kidding me_ look on her face "If Spinelli wants Sam he can have her!"

"Who are you? His wife?"

Carly told her, "I should be but no. Listen, ma'am, your grandson has evidence that that proves a woman was set-up for a crime she didn't commit. And if he keeps running then this same woman will go to prison for life for something that was self- defense."

"Damien, get out here!" Grandma Spinelli yelled

Damien Spinelli stepped onto the porch , looking sheepish.

"Hey, Blonde One." He said to Lulu

"Hey Mobster Dude." he said to Jason.

"And who are you?" he asked Carly. His eyes moved over her body, "Looking fine as sunshine. Yum! I shall call you Sunny Delight!"

"Don't start that nickname crap again." Jason told him. "Call her Carly or Ms. Spencer or better yet nothing. Don't speak to her. Just get in the car so we can head back home. Sam is going to be convicted if you don't testify."

"You lied to me, Damien." Grandma Spinelli said "Are these people here trying to kill you like those gangsters last night or not? You know I'm a perfect shot and I do not want to go to hell for putting a bullet in a innocent person."

Damien pursed his lips and thought about lying.

Lulu said, in a warning voice, "Spinelli!"

"All right, yeah, Grammy, I lied. The women are harmless but I'm not so sure about Mobster Dude One or Two."

She lowered the gun. "So, who sent those guys last night?"

"Lorenzo Alcazar and he does wish to do harm to your grandson." Jason said "But if you place him in my care I will guarantee his safe return back to Port Charles. If he doesn't go back Sam will be wrongly convicted of murder."

"You have to go back then." Grandma Spinelli told Damien.

"But Grammy-"

"You're going back." Grandma Spinelli said

Spinelli looked at Lulu.

"You're going back." Lulu told him

Milo gave him a dirty look.

Jason said, "Mrs. Spinelli, Alcazar wants to hurt your grandson, not you, so you should be safe once he isn't with you. But I wouldn't feel comfortable with you going home or staying out here in the woods by yourself. I can arrange local protection for you if you want to check into a hotel for a week or so, just until we get back and Spinelli testifies."

"I have friends in Memphis." she replied "You can drop me off there on y'all way home. But if anything happens to my grandson," she tapped her shot gun "I'll be coming to Port Charles to look you up, Mr. Morgan."

Jason nodded. "Milo you drive Mrs. Spinelli's car. Everyone else can ride with me."

"Nobody drives Big Bessie but me." Grandma Spinelli said, pointing at a twenty year old Cadillac that sat nearby.

Jason gritted his teeth. _Can anything go easy on this trip_? he asked himself

Carly said, "That's fine. Jase and I will ride with you and your grandson. Milo and Lulu can follow behind us."

"Works for me," said Milo as he smiled at Lulu.

After the Spinelli's got their luggage everyone walked over to the cars.

Damien went to sit in the passenger seat but his grandmother said, "Young man! The ladies sit in front."

Jason looked at Carly with a _OH hell no _look. She laughed and climbed into the front seat, leaving Jason and Spinelli in the back together.

**IN THE SUV, Lulu was **finally able to play the radio and chat as much as she wanted.

Softly the radio played, "_Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.  
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go. So make the best of this test, and don't ask why. It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time. It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right. I hope you had the time of your life_..." ( Green Day) 

She said to Milo, "You _soooooo_ need to get out of the mob. Look at what it did to Jason. Sucked the fun right out of him. According to Carly he was like _way _wild when they were our age. Doing crazy stuff like train surfing and riding a motorcycle through the living room at the Quatermaine's. Now he is just boring. You don't want to end up like that. Do you?"

Milo said, "Jason has seen a lot of stuff go done with Sonny, Carly and the kids. A lot of... tragedies, Lulu."

"Oh," she said softly

"Yeah, and we only see him when he's working. He's probably a lot different with Sam at home."

"Ugh, Sam." Lulu made a face.

"What? Now you don't like Sam?"

"Do you?"

"She' s alright." Milo answered.

"She isn't Carly. And that's enough reason right there for me to not like her."

"I don't get it."

"Carly is a Spencer. We stick together. What she wants, I want. And vice a versa. She wants me to be with my soul mate and I want her to be with hers."

Milo asked, surprised, "You have a soul mate?"

The song ended with, "_It́s something unpredictable, but in the end is right  
I hope you had the time of your life." ( Green Day)  
_

Lulu ignored his question and looked out the window. "What does that medallion you wear around you neck mean?"

Milo put his hand on it. "You noticed that? When? I never take it out."

"Last night. I went in your room... to borrow a blanket... and you were sleeping.."

Milo blushed, thinking about her seeing him in his underwear.

She looked at him.

He said, "You changed the subject."

She said, "You answer me and then I will _think _about answering you."

Milo let out a breath. "Okay...my father gave this necklace to me...in a way. He left it to me when he died. Max has one too. My dad and his brother, they were twins, got them for their eighteenth birthdays. The picture is of river in Italy and the words are in Italian. They translate to - _Where you go, I shall be too_."

"That's beautiful," Lulu said softly.

For a moment the only sound in the car was the radio, "_The batter swings and the summer flies as I look into my angel's eyes. A song plays on while the moon is high over me, something comes over me. I guess we're big, and I guess we're small. If you think about it, man. You know we got it all.  
Cause we're all we got on this bouncing ball. And I love ya free, I love ya freely.." ( Five for fighting)  
_

Milo finally spoke, "Your turn, Lulu. You know who your soul mate is?"

Lulu looked away. "I used to think.. maybe.. I did. But now, I don't know. I think not everyone gets a soul mate. My parents did. My brothers did. But me..."

He said, "There's still time, you know."

"Yeah, I guess," her words were hopeless, as if it was all decided for her at eighteen years old.

Milo tried to cheer her up, "Hey, I don't have a soul mate either. So if you don't ever find yours..."

She chuckled.

Her eyes lit up, and she asked "This is one of those pathetic loser deals, isn't it?"

**BACK IN BIG BESSIE**, Grandma Spinelli fixed Carly with a probing look.

The she said, "You said your not _that one's _wife but you should be." She nodded back at Jason. "What you two doing? Shacking up? Living in sin? Following the devil's path to destruction?"

"I wish," Carly said, winking at her.

Grandma Spinelli said, "Sit up straight, young lady! And listen up. You make him marry you first before you give up _any_ goodies. No goodies before God says so." She wagged a finger at Carly. " Words to live by."

"Yes, ma'am." Carly answered and then smirked at Jason. "She says you have to marry me."

"Does that mean The Goddess is available now?" Spinelli asked. excited.

His grandmother complained, "Ugh, I can not hear The Goddess again! That is all you have been blabbering on about since you got to my house. Goddess this. Goddess that. You would think she was Annette Funicello."

"I don't even want to know," Jason muttered under his breath.

"Who is that?" asked Carly

Jason groaned.

"M- I-C," Grandma Spinelli sang sweetly "See you real soon. K-E-Y. Why? Because we like you..."

Jason stared at her like she was an alien.

"M- O- U - S- E." she finished singing "Damien loves watching the Mickey Mouse Club reruns with me. Don't you, Damien?"

He mumbled, his face red, "Sure, Grammy."

Grandma Spinelli, "Annette Funicello was one of the original mousketeers. Quite popular with the young men in her day. I don't see how this _Sam_ can hold a candle to her."

"The Goddess is much hotter than," Damien started

"Zip it!" his grandmother commanded.

Damien slouched down in his seat.

"Thank you." Jason said loudly, glad someone could put a cork in Spinelli.

"He causes you a bit of trouble you just give him a spoonful of cod liver oil. Shuts him right up," Grandma Spinelli advised Jason.

"Thanks for the tip. Carly write that down." Jason said "I will be sure to use it if he gets out of line."

Carly shook her head no at him.

He shook his head back yes.

" The only _other _thing that works on him is," Grandma Spinelli said "The Lord."

She flipped on the radio and a preacher started spreading the word at top volume. He was speaking about abstinence.

"Preach on!" Grandma Spinelli cried. She looked at Carly, "You hear that? That's the word of God. No goodies! Say it with me."

"No goodies." Carly said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Damien?" his grandmother asked

"Grams..." he whined

Jason smirked at him.

"Don't make me pull Big Bessie over and give you what for." she threatened

"No goodies." Damien repeated.

"Mr. Morgan..." Grandma Spinelli prompted.

"What?" Jason asked innocently

"No goodies before marriage. Promise me." she instructed.

Jason stared at her.

Carly's shoulders shook with held in laughter but when Grandma Spinelli looked at her, she tried to appear angelic and God fearing.

"Unless you don't follow the law of Our Lord, Mr. Morgan? Are you a heathen? Am I trusting my grandson's life to a devil following miscreant?"

"No goodies till God says so." Carly told Jason, then covered her mouth the hide her laughter. She made a choking sound.

Jason refused to say anything.

"I can't trust my grandson's life to no devil follower!"

Jason choked out, "No goodies till God says so."

"I don't know if I believe you, Mr. Morgan."

"You've convinced me. I've seen the light." Jason said "No goodies."

The radio preacher yelled out, "Amen!"

Grandma Spinelli said, "If you need any tips on how to stay sexually pure you can call me at any time, Mr. Morgan."

Carly covered her whole face, cracking up.

"Are you okay?" Grandma Spinelli asked, worried.

Carly recovered, looked at her, and said "That was so moving."

Grandma Spinelli said, "You get that ring on your finger, sweetie. Don't let anything stop you. No matter what you see on Jerry Springer the best way to live is still by the Lord's plan. In fact, we could pull over right now and find a little church..."

Carly looked at Jason and joked "It's a nice day for a white wedding..."

Jason's voice was desperate when he cried out "We really are on a schedule, ma'am. Got to get back home to help Sam."

"Oh yes," Grandma Spinelli said, rolling her eyes. "The Goddess."


	7. A Pathetic Loser Deal

**ROAD TRIP**

**CHAPTER SEVEN- A Pathetic Loser Deal **

She chuckled. "This is one of those pathetic loser deals, isn't it?"

Milo smiled at Lulu.

She continued, "Where if neither one of us finds someone by the time we are old and decrepit then we hook up with each other and pretend that it was all meant to be?"

"Once we are old and decrepit we might be senile too and actually believe it was all meant to be." Milo told her

Lulu considered that, and then said "Hmm. All right. What age do you think we'll be desperate enough to convince ourselves that fate actually exists?"

"25?" Milo suggested, thinking he wouldn't mind if they set the day for the deal to start as tomorrow. It couldn't be soon enough for him. Given enough time, he was sure, some other guy would see how amazing Lulu Spencer was and she was forget all about The Bodyguard who once had a crush on her.

"25?" Lulu asked "That seems a little young."

"You think?"

"How about fifty?" Lulu asked

Milo shook his head, no. "What? We'll be falling apart by then. And our memories will probably be shot. I doubt we'll even remember this conversation."

"True. Okay Thirty six then." Lulu said "When _I'm_ thirty six."

Milo agreed "If no soul mate turns up for either of us then we get together."

"Deal. Eighteen years from today, if we are both single, we met up again and that's it. Me and you for life after that." Lulu said

"You willing to decide all that right now? With a guy you barely know?"

"Like it is really going to come to that! You'll probably be married with six kids by then. But if not..." Lulu said

Milo thought for a moment, "Where should we meet?"

"Kelly's. I am sure it will still be there. In fact, if I don't pick a major soon, I may end up running the place."

"You got yourself a deal, Lulu."

She said, "But if you meet your soul mate don't wait on me..."

Milo shrugged.

"What does that mean? You weaseling out of our deal already" Lulu asked

"Course not. But maybe I wouldn't mind waiting on someone like you." he said

"Someone _like_ me?" she asked, noting the sweet way he said the words.

" Yeah, Lulu, to me someone like you is worth waiting for."

Lulu smiled and looked out the window.

**IN THE CADILLAC**, Spinelli was telling Jason and Carly how he escaped Alcazar's goons the night before.

"So I hear this dude say 'Tell me where the kid is or it's all over, old lady!' and I am like no way is anybody messing with my grams. So I unlock her gun case," turns out Grandma Spinelli is a card carrying member of the NRA " and take out the shot gun. When the goon comes busting into the bedroom I unload on him."

"And you are still alive," Carly said. "Amazing."

"I hit him on the first try." Spinelli said

Jason rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so it _was _in his foot," Spinelli admitted "That double barrel weighs a lot more than you would think. I started to drop the gun and it went off. But I got the job done. When that goon hit the ground,

crying like a little girl, I grabbed his gun and ran to save Grammy."

"And who was supposed to save you?" asked Carly

"Funny, Sunny Delight."

Jason grabbed his hand and crushed his fingers, "Last warning."

Spinelli jerked his hand away, "Okay, okay. Getting back to my story.

You should of saw Grammy wrestling with Alky's other goon. She looks elderly but she can pack a heck of a punch. I put the shotgun right up to his head and he started seeing things my way real quick. We tried him up and hit the road." Spinelli looked at Jason "You should think about hiring me. Then you wouldn't keep getting in these kind of messes."

"Damien, you will finish college and then become a podiatrist like we discussed." said his grandmother from behind the driver's seat "Is that understood?"

"I don't even like feet, Grammy! They creep me out. I don't want to work with feet all day."

"You will work with feet and like it," she ordered him.

In a tortured voice Jason asked, " How long till Memphis?"

"Another hour or so," said Grandma Spinelli

"Anyone have any aspirin?" he asked

Carly passed him some. "Your leg hurting again?"

"Yeah, among other things." Jason said, holding his head.

**BACK IN PORT CHARLES**, Ric and Alexis were in court. Alexis started to feel weak and resigned as Sam's lawyer. Ric dropped the charges.

Once everyone else left the court room, Alexis said to Ric, "You did that because you feel sorry for me."

"Why would I feel sorry for a tough Cassadine woman like you?" Ric asked "You could kick my ass."

"With one hand tied behind my back." Alexis said

"Exactly." Ric started to walk out.

Alexis called after him, "Hey."

"Yeah," he looked back.

"Thank you, Mr. Lansing."

"Anytime, Mrs. Lansing."

Alexis watched him leave,, with fantasies of beating the crap out of him warring in her mind with fantasies of him turning back into the man she fell in love with.

The Natasha side of her personality won out and, in her mind, she swung him around over her head like a WWE wrestler until he begged for mercy.


	8. No Bull For You

**ROAD TRIP**

NOTE- The comments are cracking me up! Love that you find my odd sense of humor funny. Thank you for leaving comments to inspire me to finish this story.

**Chapter Eight- No Bull for You**

"**We can not leave Tennessee **without doing something fun!" Lulu cried from the back seat of the SUV, about thirty miles outside of Memphis.

They were on a back road because the highway was grid locked with traffic.

Grandma Spinelli was safely deposited at her relatives house. Jason knew the charges against Sam were dropped because she called. The only thing left to do, in his opinion, was haul this car full of chit chatters back to upstate New York as fast as humanely possible.

"We should ride the bull at Bronco's," Spinelli said as he read a billboard advertising the country and western bar.

"I want to ride the bull!" Lulu said, excitedly.

Jason had three words for that idea, but the slow way he said them made it sound like five words.

"Forget about it," he said.

"Fugh get bout it," Spinelli mocked Jason, using a wise guy voice.

Carly sat in the front passenger seat, "Jase, we could all use a food break. Your not being a very good babysitter."

"They aren't babies."

"But they are so cute and small..." she said, as if describing puppies.

"Carly," he warned, starting to smile and not wanting to. "No. No to Bronco's. No to the bull. _No_."

"Jase," she whined

He let out a breath. "They can have fast food. If they are good and ...quiet. Who wants to play The Silent Game?"

"Me!" said Spinelli "Are there prizes?"

Lulu elbowed him. Milo leaned forward, looked around Lulu, and glared at Spinelli.

"Okay, here are the rules.." Jason started

"No one liked that game the first time." Carly said "If you really want to have some fun you could give me a driving lesson."

"I would rather ride the bull," Jason deadpanned.

"Are we riding the bull?" Lulu asked excitedly

"There's another sign," Milo said. "Bronco's in one mile."

"We're riding the bull!" Lulu said, clapping.

"No bull." Jason said

In a voice like The Soup Nazi Lulu said, pointing first at Milo "No bull for you!"

She pointed at Spinelli, and said it louder, "No bull for you!"

Milo laughed.

Spinelli said, "Good one. He could so be the Fun Nazi."

"What did you just call me?" Jason asked

"Hmmm?" asked Spinelli, playing dumb, which wasn't very hard for him.

"No more talking." Jason said

In unison, Milo, Lulu and Spinelli mocked "No talking for you!"

Carly laughed.

Jason shot her a look, "Could you be on my side? What do you think? Huh? Geez."

She sobered up. "I'm on your side. Where else would I be, Jase?"

His eyes softened at her tone.

"There's Bronco's," Milo said, pointing out the window.

Lulu started to tap Jason's shoulder, over and over, she begged "Pull over. Please. Please. Please. You will be my favorite _almost was and should of been _cousin in law if you do...come on... pull over."

Carly smiled at the description.

_**Bump. Bump. Bump.**_

"You have got to be kidding me," Jason muttered as he pulled off the road and into a store parking lot. "A flat freaking tire.. right now..errrr."

Lulu cried, "God wants me to ride the bull!"

Jason climbed out of the car and went around back to drag out the jack and spare tire. When he looked back up, Lulu and Spinelli were jogging down the road toward Bronco's.

Milo asked, "Should I go after them?"

Jason gave him a death stare.

Milo stuttered, "Yeah, I should probably go after them. Okay, boss. I'm right on that."

Milo hurried away.

"Need some help?" Carly asked

"You ever change a tire?"

"I have watched a variety of husbands and boyfriends do it, does that count?"

He smiled. "I got it."

"Jase, I know your acting like the kids are driving you nuts.."

"It's not an act."

"But one day you might look back and think of this trip as the good old days." Her voice softened. " _Our _good old days."

He concentrated on putting the new tire on.

She continued, softly, "Or maybe you won't. I don't know."

She thought of better times they had shared, and worse. She thought of when he loved her, and how some people believed he never had. But if that was true she would be a very different woman today.

She would be less, lacking all the layers he had embedded into her

soul. And she wouldn't feel this nagging sense of living the wrong script, the alternate ending of the movie. The one that was good but no where like the real ending, the one they should have had.

Standing on the side of the road, in December, wearing his leather jacket, and a PCU sweatshirt she borrowed from Lulu that had been bought by Milo, she started to speak from her heart to him.

Carly said, "This trip was just a couple days out of a life but I liked spending them with you- _away_ from Port Charles. You know even in a fire or an epidemic or a jail cell, it's fun to be alone with you.. me and you against the world. What I'm trying to say is...this road trip could be something... _our something_... if you would let it."

She watched him work, his muscles straining, his shoulders tense and wondered why she was rambling all this at him, telling him what he already knew, what he didn't want to hear. Over and over she said it, or didn't say it, daily, but still it was there in every look between them.

"I think I'm going to ride the bull," she said "You don't get that chance every day. And I would hate to let a once in a lifetime thing slip through my fingers. That would be... tragic. Don't you think, Jase?"

_Soul mates_, the word popped into his head.

He blamed it on the fact she kept bringing it up for the last few days. He felt like strangling Jax for leaving Carly behind and making her feel unwanted. But Jason knew that no matter what Jax did or didn't do, it didn't really change the emotions Carly and Jason danced around constantly.

This was supposed to get easier. No one had ever told him it would, but he figured it must. Feeling like this for the rest of his life couldn't be possible, always one inch away from diving right back into that whole messy scene between them. And then aching, like someone jabbed a knife in his gut, when he let another moment, and there were a million gone by already, slip past.

He stood up, studied her face. Then, like usual, chickened out. He took a step back and started to load the flat tire into the car.

Carly began to walk toward Bronco's, not really let down because Jason not acknowledging what lay between them was par for the course. If he ever did, which she figured he wouldn't, every thing would change.

And Jason Morgan didn't do change very well.

(_Well sometimes I get all wrapped up  
cause I don't know who to be_

_  
but you know when to be my security blanket, and when to_

_uncover me_

_  
So let's just sit out on the back porch  
and unravel everything   
someday these will be our old days, let's make them worth remembering_

There was never a point in our love  
that I didn't love you 

_  
not a point in our love _

_  
I always did, I always will, I always do_

_love you still _

_  
I always would, how could I not?_

_just look at us,_

_baby _

_  
we're kind of perfect ) ( by amazing folk artist Kacy Crowley_) 

"Carly," he called after her.

She turned, the wind whipped her blonde hair, she reached up and pushed it out of her face.

"Are you going to leave me behind," he called out "just because I'm a little slow?"

She waited until he was next to her to answer him.

"Why would I start leaving you behind now?"

He smiled at her soft question, her unbreakable loyalty. What had he done to deserve it? Only fallen in love with her once upon a time, and no matter what anyone thought, he knew, that had been an easy thing to do.

She looked down at his leg, "Even though you went and got yourself shot and scared me half to death. And now you are limping around like someone in a senior citizen home."

"Hey." he said, pretending to be offended.

She put one arms around his waist and they started walking toward the bar.

Carly teased. "You know one day when you _do_ get really old and senile, I'll still think your just as hot as ever. I'll visit you everyday and tell you stories about how I was your One True Love."

"And what if you get senile first?" he asked

"Well you'll have to visit me and tell me the stories. Will you do that, Jase?"

"You better write these stories down. Because you know I am not good at making stuff up."

She stopped walking, her arms still around his waist, and looked up at him. "You lived it. What's there to make up?"

Jason suddenly remembered why he didn't spend a lot of alone time with Carly, because once they fell into this rhythm it was a short drop right into the deep end. Into everything she said was right there for the taking.. into a place he fought everyday from even thinking about.

Spinelli walked out the door of Bronco's and called out to them,

"You're missing it! Lulu is riding the bull!"


	9. Boot Scoot Boogie

**Chapter Nine- Boot Scoot Boogie**

**Lulu wasn't exactly riding **the bull yet, she was standing next to it with a nervous look on her face.

"You gonna ride 'er?" asked the man who worked there. He wore a cowboy style shirt and a badge that said Randy Dale.

Lulu wondered if randy described his personality or if he had two first names or a last name that sounded like a first name. Or if...

"Little lady?" Randy Dale interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah," Lulu said, focusing on him again. "Do many people die riding this bull?"

"Old Gus ain't killed nobody in years now," Randy Dale saidthen laughed.

Lulu paled "Is that backwoods humor or is this mechanical bull a serial killer?"

Randy Dale laughed again, not really clearing up anything as far as Lulu was concerned.

She glanced over to where Jason, Carly, Spinelli and Milo were standing, watching along with a few other bar patrons.

Country music blared over the jukebox.

**Alan Jackson sang, "**_The next thing I remember I was hearing wedding bells._

_Standing by a woman in a long white lacy veil._

_I raised the veil, she smiled at me, without her left front tooth._

_And I said 'Where the hell am I? And just who the hell are you?"_

_She said "I was your waitress and our last name's now the same_

_Cause I'm married to you baby and I don't even know your name.._."

Lulu's eyes met Milo's. He gave her a thumb's up.

She nodded.

"All right, Randy Dale, I'm ready to ride the bull!" she said, hopping on.

Randy petted the faked bull. "You be nice to her now, Old Gus."

Carly closed her eyes and leaned over to press her face against Jason's chest. "I can't watch."

Spinelli grinned, with lusty eyes, "I can. Go Oh Blonde One! Yahoo! Work that Bull! That's right."

Milo growled at him, "Do you feel like losing some blood today?"

Spinelli's eyes were locked on Lulu who was doing remarking well on the bull.

He said to Milo, "No thank you. I gave at the office."

Milo was about to grab the front of Spinelli's shirt when Jason said,

"There she goes."

Carly opened her eyes and she saw her cousin yell "Yee-haw!" before Lulu tumbled to the ground.

Milo ran over and helped her up.

Lulu was all smiles when she said, "You soooo need to ride the bull!"

**THE BAR served **food, though Carly wouldn't be taking any recipes back to The Metro Court. So after the bull riding- Lulu, Milo, and Carly rode, Jason and Spinelli watched- they all ate some the greasiest hamburgers ever known to mankind and watched Randy Dale give line dancing lessons.

"Lets learn," Lulu said to Milo

Milo watched the dancers and, with his head titled, then said "I don't think my feet move that way."

"I'm game, Oh Blonde One."

Spinelli and Lulu moved onto the dance floor. She picked up most of the steps right away, her face flushed and grinning, while Spinelli goofed around and tripped up other people with his missteps.

A Brooks and Dunn song was playing, "_Yeah! Heel, toe, doe see doe, come on baby let's go boot scooting._

Cadillac, black jack, baby meet me out back we're gonna boogie.  
Oh get down, turn around, go to town boot scooting boogie."

Jason looked at Carly and deadpanned, "Is this the fourth level of Hell?"

She grinned sexily, "No, it's a bar a thousand miles from home. You think there are any rooms upstairs here?"

He looked toward the ceiling before he could stop himself. Then their eyes met and held.

And he started to think how good it would feel...

"Milo," Jason snapped

"What did I do?" Milo asked nervously.

"Go." Jason ordered

"Where?"

"Away," Jason told him, still looking at Carly.

"Oh, okay, boss. Oh." Milo was at a lost for where he could go. He looked around.

"Milo," Carly said, holding Jason's gaze.

"Yeah?"

"Boot scoot." she said

Milo had a pained expression as he joined the line dancers.

Jason leaned toward Carly, swallowed and said, "Stop it."

"What?" she asked innocently, her hand snaked under the table and caressed his thigh.

"Come on. Stop. Enough." The way he said it made her think he had met his limit with her, and one more push might take him right where she wanted him to be.

_How could things go here so quickly? _she wondered

But they were always living just below the boiling point.

She smiled, "Enough for you, maybe. Never for me."

"You say. But all you are doing is asking for..."

"Love?" she whispered, huskily.

"A mess."

She broke eye contact with him, shaking her head. "No, all I am asking for is to feel something real for the first time in years. But I guess today is _not_ my day."

She stood up and made her way to the bar.

"Whatcha drinking?" asked the bartender, a woman with huge Elvis Presley earrings.

"What you got?" Carly asked

**JASON watched **her, feeling disappointed. He had only done the right thing, he told himself, and halted her silly game.

Sure Carly _thought_ she wanted him back but in all honestly, Jason believed, they would only end up in flames within months. A year tops. And then what?

_Think of Sam_, Jason drilled into his mind_. Sam. Pretty little Sam. _

He tried to picture her, to remember a really perfect moment with his current girlfriend. They were right there on the edge of his mind...but instead he saw a blonde whose only crime was loving him too much for her own good... he saw all the need that was in her eyes that first night at Jake's and realized it had only grown since then.

He wanted to make Carly feel safer, more protected and he hoped he had but ... he knew he had also made her feel desperate, scared, and like she was clutching at sand castles that people told her weren't even there. Like they, him and her and their love, were only a mirage.

But he knew the truth, they were _it_. More than a four letter word, a ten letter one.

Everything.

**THE LINE DANCING ENDED**, and couples started to pair off as the song changed.

Spinelli said, smiling, "Oh Blonde One..."

Milo butted him out of the way and Spinelli went stumbling into a table.

"How harsh!" Spinelli cried out

Milo held out his hand to Lulu, "Would you do me the honor?"

"Your mother raised you right, Milo Giambetti. Yes, I would love to," she answered, feeling like a character in Gone With the Wind.

She went into his arms and he was pretty sure he had never felt anything as good before in his life.

(_When the rain is blowing in your face  
And the whole world is on your case _

_  
I would offer you a warm embrace  
To make you feel my love _

_  
When the evening shadows and the stars appear  
And there is no one to dry your tears _

_  
I could hold you for a million years  
To make you feel my love _) ( Mr. Garth Brooks)

**Jason tapped on Carly's **shoulder.

She turned around, "Just forget it, okay? Never happened."

He said, "That would be a lie. We don't lie to each other."

"I'm going to need more alcohol." Carly started to turn away.

Jason said softly, "Dance?"

She looked at him.

He added, "Just a dance. Don't go getting no ideas, now." He smiled

She said, as they went to the dance floor, "I was born full of crazy ideas."

"You don't say?" he joked softly

She smiled. He barely swayed to the beat, because of his hurt leg, but the point wasn't to dance, it was to be close, to hear Carly sigh happily. What better sound was there in the world than that sigh?

(_I know you haven't made your mind up yet  
But I would never do you wrong _

_  
I've known it from the moment that we met _  
_No doubt in my mind where you belong _

_  
I'd go hungry, I'd go blind for you  
I'd go crawling down the aisle for you _

_  
There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do  
To make you feel my love _) ( Mr. Garth Brooks) 

**SPINELLI walked **over to a waitress, the only young one in the place. She was in her late twenties, with plenty of curves eased into her jean skirt, and she wore cowboy boots. Her platinum blond hair reminded him of Dolly Parton.

"Hey Dreamy Dolly, wanna cut a rug?"

"My name is Abigail."

"The Jackal." he said winking at her.

"_Die Hard with a Vengeance_."

Thinking she was telling him to drop dead, he said "That is mega harsh."

"Mega Harsh? Never heard of that one. Who else was in it?"

"Huh?" Spinelli asked, his eyes focusing on her ample figure.

"Aren't we naming Bruce Willis movies?" she asked

"What?"

"You said _The Jackal_." she told him annoyed, "Yankees." She rolled her eyes. "Can't make a lick of sense out of nothin' that comes out of their mouths."

**CARLY sa**i**d **softly, "This is my favorite thing in the world."

"Liar," Jason said, grinning sexily.

He knew he shouldn't encourage her but... damn, he was sick of doing the right thing. So few times were they ever away from Port Charles and all that together. For five more minutes he could indulge her...

She stared in his eyes. "Being in your arms _is_ my favorite thing, horizontal or vertical."

She laid her head on his shoulder, "Yes, right here.. this.. I missed this, Jase."

"Yeah, me too." The words slipped from his mouth, soft tender little pieces of truth.

(_The storms are raging on a rolling sea  
Down the highway of regret _

_  
The winds of change are blowing wild and free  
But you ain't seen nothing like me yet _

_There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do  
Go to the ends of the earth for you _

_  
Make you happy, make your dreams come true  
To make you feel my love) ( Mr. Garth Brooks_)

**LULU looked **up at Milo, as they danced, "This is a good country song," her thoughts were filled with dreams of a prince charming that might be hers one day.

"Damn good country song," Milo agreed thinking of the princess he held within his arms.

**SPINELLI hustled **after the waitress, saying "Dreamy Dolly, don't do me this way. Show a poor Yankee some lovin..."

"Security!" the waitress yelled


	10. Crazy Eyes

**Chapter Ten- Crazy Eyes**

**They hustled** to the car with the security guy chasing after Spinelli.

"Stay back!" Spinelli yelled at the overweight guard, who was dressed in cowboy boots and hat, blue jean pants and shirt plus a bolo tie . He wore a badge that proclaimed him Big Earl.

Spinelli stopped, spun around and threatened in his squeaky voice " I know karate!"

He did the classic stance from The Karate Kid. Then tumbled to the ground.

Big Earl shouted as he ran closer. "Abigail is a my girl, you Yankee!"

Spinelli jumped up, stumbled over his own feet and then ran till he could dive into the SUV.

"You could have helped me, Stone Cold." Spinelli whined

"Why? You know karate." Jason said from the driver's seat.

Big Earl yelled, "And don't bring your chicken Yankee butt back, you hear!"

They drove to a gas station where Carly bought Tylenol PM for Jason. She talked him into taking it and letting Milo drive.

Jason moved to the back seat.

Carly climbed in the front seat. Lulu sat between Jason and Spinelli.

The kids were under strict instructions to be quiet. Which meant to them, whispering their inane conversations.

"Oh Blond One, why don't you and me shake a tail feather together when we get back home?" Spinelli asked Lulu, moving his eyebrows up and down rapidly.

Milo gave him a hard glare into the rearview mirror, one that said _Over my dead body will that ever happen! _

Spinelli spotted it and whispered to Lulu, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you got something going on with Crazy Eyes?"

Milo said harshly, "Don't call me Crazy Eyes."

"Don't give me crazy eyes, Crazy Eyes." Spinelli shot back.

"You are ridiculous." Milo said.

"I agree," chimed in Jason, who had his head leaned back and eyes closed.

They continued on in the same fashion with Spinelli bringing up bizarre topics like what would be the best cereal to eat if you could only eat cereal for the rest of your life and if they were all characters on Seinfeld which ones would they be . After much debate it was decided Carly would be Elaine, Spinelli would be Kramer and Jason would be Jerry. Lulu was stuck as George( perennially unlucky, which was how she thought of herself) and Milo was declared Newman-because Spinelli said he had a grouchy personality at times.

Those times all happened to be when The Jackal was hitting on Lulu.

Somehow Jason manage to fall asleep during all of this. The last thing he said before drifting off was, "Milo, do not crash this car. Do not stop this car. Do not let them talk you into anything. Just keep your foot on the gas until you see the gates of Greystone."

"Don't worry, Jase," Carly promised "there will be no problems."

**HOURS LATER**

Jason woke up to a problem. He was shivering. Not because he had a fever but because it was cold outside.

During the warmest winter on record in years, Milo has managed to drive them right into Antarctica. At least that is what it looked like to Jason when he stared out the window.

Since he was alone in the SUV, he decided the only option he had was to get out and see where the other four might have wondered off to.

As soon as he stepped into the breathtakingly cold snowstorm, hail started to pelt him, bouncing off his head, hands, and body. Jason looked up and saw a sign

**I NO TELL MOTEL **

Most of the letters in the neon flashing name were out. Originally it had read, Sid Northwell's Motel.

Jason dashed into the building, still tired and in a daze. _Maybe this is a nightmare, _he thought_. Maybe I never met anyone named Spinelli._

Carly was walking through the small run down lobby and spotted him.

"I was just about to come back out and get you," she said "I got three rooms because that is all they had left. The kids are already upstairs."

Jason sighed.

He asked her, "Are we ever going home?"

Carly laughed. "The boys are there. So of course we are. Eventually."

"Just checking," Jason said as he followed her upstairs.

They walked into their room, which had an adjoining one next to it, and spotted Spinelli in the mini fridge.

"Not so fast, Baby Jack." Carly said, walking over.

"It's The Jackal." Spinelli corrected.

"Pass them over. Now. There is no way you are twenty-one years old yet."

Spinelli gave her ten little bottles of alcohol. Carly put them back.

Jason asked, "Where are the other two?"

"In there. Being all freaky deaky. Gag. It just ain't right, man."

Spinelli answered

Jason glanced at the slightly open door to the adjoining room.

"Lesley Lou Spencer!" he bellowed

"What?" she called back, annoyed.

"I want five feet between you two at all times!" Jason ordered.

Lulu and Milo were standing near the window of the other room, talking. She slid closer to him, put her hand on his and said, with a flirty tone to her voice, "I don't take orders from him."

Milo smiled at her. He leaned closer.

Jason appeared in the doorway. "FIVE FEET!"

Milo stumbled backwards, startled, until he ran into the wall.

Lulu glared at Jason, "Why do you care?"

Jason didn't answer, instead he stared at Milo.

Carly called from the other room, "Because you're family, Lulu."

Lulu stomped out of her room, pushed past Jason and confronted Carly. " I'm your family, not his. My own father doesn't care who I sleep with!"

"You're sleeping with Crazy Eyes!?!" Spinelli sputtered

Milo, who was now standing in the doorway near Jason, shook his head rapidly back and forth at Jason and threw up his hands to silently say no.

Jason gave him a ticked off look. Lulu and Milo could do whatever they wanted back in Port Charles but as long as Jason was in charge of her, there would have no funny business.

"My family is Jason's family, too." Carly said as she paged through the phone book.

Lulu groaned. "So what are you saying? I am stuck with Mr. Buzz Kill bossing me around for life now?"

Carly smiled at her. "He only wants you to be safe."

Lulu crossed her arms over her chest and stomped her foot in frustration.

Jason looked at Carly and pleaded, "Could you please feed them so they can go to bed?"

"Pizza is on the way," she said, picking up the phone.

**AFTER DINNER, **where Jason demanded to know why Milo and Carly were wearing different clothes and was none to happy to learn they had stopped at a mall before the hail storm****Carly went to take a shower.

Jason told Milo, "You have Spinelli till morning. Take him to the room across the hall. Don't let him out of your sight. Got it?"

"I have to be roomies with Crazy Eyes?" Spinelli whined "Listen, Jase..."

"Never call me that."

"Okay, Stone Cold, " Spinelli said "Listen, I will not be able to sleep a wink with your associate in the same room."

Spinelli dropped his voice and whispered to Jason, though Lulu and Milo clearly heard him, "He's a Newman. Need I say more?"

Jason shook his head, not making any sense out of that, and ordered, "No. Say no more. Just go. Now."

Milo noted their was only one bed in each of the adjoining hotel rooms. He asked nervously, "What if there aren't two beds?"

Jason said, "Then handcuff the loud one to the toilet for the night. I don't care! Just stay out of my sight till the sun comes up. And then, even if it is hailing golf balls, we are getting back on the road. This trip is ending by tomorrow night. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Milo said, unhappily.

Spinelli and him left, with Spinelli asking him as they stepped into the hall,

"He was joking about the handcuff thing, right? Right? RIGHT? Answer me, Crazy Eyes!"

_Coming up in the next two chapters- It's a long, long night for the Road Trippers with some kisses, some singing and some screaming._


	11. Roll With The Gangsters

**ROAD TRIP**

**Chapter Eleven - Roll With The Gangsters**

Carly came out of the bathroom wearing Jason's t-shirt, the same one she slept in the night before.

Jason lay on his back in the bed. He watched her walk past and into the adjoining room where Lulu was. 

Carly saw a table pushed up against Lulu's door, fitting snug against the walls that made the narrow entryway, a barricade against anyone going in or out.

Carly busted up laughing.

"It's not funny!" whined Lulu

Carly came back in Jason's room and said, her voice amused, "Jase! You have her locked in."

He asked, "Did you expect _me _to stay up all night guarding the door?"

"Who are you trying to keep out? The Jackal? Milo? Or are you trying to keep Lulu in?"

"All of the above." Jason said

"She's eighteen."

He made a _So what _sound. "Your point?"

Carly smiled, closed the door to the adjoining room, then climbed into bed with Jason. "Oh, you're in over protective mode. How cute."

He said, "And you are in the wrong bed."

She curled up next to him and sighed. Jason smiled, despite himself.

**IN THE NEXT ROOM, LULU **sat Indian style on the bed. The television was turned to music videos.

She dialed Milo's cell phone.

"Hey," he said

"Having fun?" she asked

Milo answered, "Not hardly. Baby Jack is hyper as ever."

"Don't call me Baby Jack!" Spinelli complained, loud enough for Lulu to hear him over the phone. "Only Sunny Delight can call me Baby Jack."

"Shut the hell up, Baby Jack," Milo told him.

"You can't talk to me that way!" Spinelli cried

Suddenly Lulu heard wrestling and bodies hitting the floor.

"Get off me you big oaf! Ughhh, ahh, fine, fine, fine, I give up, Crazy Eyes. I mean, Milo. UNCLE!"

Milo came back on the line, "Sorry about that."

Lulu said, "I wish I could come over there but _he_ is hawking my every move."

"Well, maybe when we get back home..."

"Yeah, maybe, we can hang out then." Lulu agreed. "Hey turn on MTV. I like this song."

(_You sit there in your heartache  
Waiting on some beautiful boy to   
save you from _

_your old ways _

_  
You play forgiveness _

_Watch it now ... here he comes!_

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus   
But he talks like a gentleman 

_  
Like you imagined when you were_

_young )_

_( The Killers)_

Lulu sighed, thinking how it would be much more fun to be in the same room with her new friend Milo.

She said, "I never thought I would be looking forward to having Tracy as a guardian again. But a few days with Jason _No Fun for you _Morgan and you begin to see the world in a whole new light."

**IN THE ADJOINING ROOM, **Carly and Jason lay in the dark.

"You should go share a bed with Lulu," Jason said softly

"I'm comfy here." She scooted closer to him,

He groaned, with a grin on his face. "You are so bad."

"Always."

(_Can we climb this mountain  
I don't know  
Higher now than ever before _

_  
I know we can make it if we take it slow  
Let's take it easy _

_  
Easy now, watch it go_

We're burning down the highway skyline  
On the back of a hurricane that started turning  
When you were young   
When you were young

And sometimes you close your eyes   
and see the place where you used to live 

_  
When you were young ) ( The Killers)_

Carly kissed his neck, lingering long enough to make his body come to attention, then said softly "Sleep well."

Her eyes closed and Jason lay there trying to push erotic thoughts from his mind.

_Just a game_, Jason told himself. _Carly testing me for the hell of it. Nothing to get worked up about.  
_

He swallowed. Minutes ticked by. He hoped she had fallen asleep.

A while later, his breathing slowed, he was starting to drift off.

Carly joked softly, her words drifting into his ear, "I know something fun we could do..."

"Do. Not. Say. It."

She chuckled.

He opened his eyes, glancing over at her, she was gazing at him with equal parts flirting and adoration in her eyes.

For Carly, just to be here alone with him was a thrill for her, something to store away in her memory and relive later. A small moment with her boy on the side, yet it meant much more than the grand romantic gestures other men had done for her.

Carly whispered, "You so want to."

"But we aren't going to," he said.

Carly sighed, the sweet sound making his heart ache.

Jason rolled toward her, placing his hand on her hip. Slowly his thumb moved in a small circle.

Something inside of her unknotted, as the comforting gesture linked them together, two best friends in love in the dark together.

(_They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet  
You don't have to drink right now _

_  
But you can dip your feet  
Every once in a little while ) ( The Killers)_

_**ACROSS THE HALL**, _Milo sat on one bed while Spinelli was on the other bed.

"This just don't make sense, man." Spinelli said "The Blonde One liking you over me. Look at me."

Milo gave him a annoyed look.

"I'm a hottie!" Spinelli said "The muscles, the brooding bad boy vibe, the air of genius that surrounds me."

Milo turned up the television to drown him out. The music video shouted at them the Weird Al Yankovic song, White and Nerdy, "_I wanna roll with  
The gangsters!_

_  
But so far they all think I'm too_

_white n' nerdy_

_  
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy  
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy_

_  
I'm just too white n' nerdy  
Really, really white n' nerdy!"_

Spinelli jumped up and started busting hip hop moves"See I can dance to! Look at me get down with my bad self!"

His gyrations blocked the TV.

"You make a better door than window," Milo said grumpily.

"What, Newman?"

Milo stood up. "You and your freakin nicknames are working my last nerve."

Spinelli danced away, dodging Milo who tried to grab him.

"Stand still, you little runt." Milo said

Spinelli started doing the cabbage patch.

_Weird Al sang, _"_Happy days is my favorite theme song  
I can sure kick your butt in a game of ping pong  
_

_I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on  
I'm fluent in Java Script, as well as Klingon!_

They see me roll on

_my Segway_

_  
I know in my heart they think_

_I'm white n' nerdy_

_  
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy  
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy_

_  
Can't you see I'm white n' nerdy  
Look at me I'm white n' nerdy!"_

Milo asked, "Are you on some kind of medication that you have been skipping?"

"How harsh! You need to toke on a smoke and chill," he drug the word out "Newman."

"That's it! You're getting handcuffed to the toilet."

Spinelli scurried away, jumping over one bed. Milo darted around the end of it and tried to catch him.

Spinelli jumped on the next bed, bouncing up and down. "Relax, man!"

"_I'm nerdy in the extreme and whiter than sour creme  
I was in AV club, Glee club and even the chess team!_

_  
Only question I ever thought was hard  
Was do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?_

_  
I spend every weekend  
at the renaissance fair  
I got my name on my under wear!_

They see me strollin'  
They laughin'  
And rollin' their eyes 

_'cause  
I'm so white n' nerdy_

_  
Just because I'm white n' nerdy  
Just because I'm white n' nerdy  
All because I'm white n' nerdy_

_  
Holy cow I'm white n' nerdy!"_

Spinelli bounced off the bed. Milo took out his gun.

Spinelli froze.

"Are you going to calm down now?" Milo asked

"Yes, sir."

Milo put the gun away and said, "Okay, lets just go to sleep."

Spinelli started dancing again

"_I wanna bowl with  
the gangsters_

_  
but oh well it's obvious I'm  
white n' nerdy_

_  
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy  
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy_

_  
I'm just too white n' nerdy  
Look at me I'm white n' nerdy_!"

Milo shook his head in frustration as Spinelli danced around the room. It was going to be a long night.


	12. Playing Unfair

_**NOTE - Thanks you to each and every person who leaves a review. It makes me smile to read your thoughts.**_

**Chapter Twelve Playing Unfair**

Laying in bed, Jason was thinking about it. He had no intention of doing it, he assured himself. But he could think about it, think about sliding his hand over her body, hearing more of those gorgeous sighs followed by her gasping his name into his ear.

"Not playing fair, Jase." she softly chastised him. "You get that look on your face and expect me to not want you?"

"When do you play fair?"

"I gave that up for Lent," Carly told him.

"What? Twenty years ago?" he asked

"It was getting in the way. But you_... you _like doing the right thing.. being selfless. How is that working for you?" she teased, placing her hand on his chest.

_Think of Sam_, Jason repeated as he often had today. _Sam, Sa...S... what was her name again? S...?_

He cleared his throat. "What state are we in?"

"Aroused."

His mouth went dry. He said, "I meant state as in Ohio? Alaska? Where did you guys snow us in at?"

She laughed. "Is that what you are really thinking about right now?"

"I just wondered."

"New Jersey."

"Hmm. So it won't take long to get home tomorrow."

She raised an eyebrow, "Willpower failing?"

"No, not hardly." His voice sounded less than convinced. "But you should go sleep in the other room. It would be...the right thing to do."

"If you can resist, so can I." She pressed her body against his side, snuggled into a comfortable position, and closed her eyes again.

This would be the best night of sleep she had gotten in years, Carly was sure, as she pulled his arm around her. Life was at its best when she got to be in the embrace of her boy on the side.

Jason let out a breath. He croaked out, "Oh, I can resist. No problem."

**IN THE NEXT ROOM, **Lulu was watching the John Cusack movie Serendipity.

She wondered if life could be like that, meeting your true love and losing them all in the same day. Only to find them when you thought all hope was gone years later.

Lulu Quatermaine. Once she had wanted that to be her name. Now she wasn't so sure. All her little girl fantasies concerning Dillon were tarnished. They had grown up overnight, together, because of one faulty condom.

Lulu Giambetti. Hmmm. Lesley Lou Giambetti. Mr. and Mrs. Giambetti. How very mature that sounded. Too bad the last thing she wanted now was to be mature.

She had done the mature thing, she felt, when she did not go through with the pregnancy. She would put off maturity as long as possible now.

Still kissing Milo had been hot. Yes she would not mind, at all, doing that again.

Lulu Spinelli.

She busted out laughing. She pictured introducing herself as Mrs. The Jackal.

Had she met the man she would marry? She didn't know.

There were cute cops that worked with her brother, and cute professors at the college, there was a sexy guy in her Shakespearean Lit Class, and a hottie who worked at the Eli's, the ribs joint that was a Spencer family favorite. Yet none of them made her feel special.

Only Milo did that.

She decided, in that moment, to keep him in a special category- away from her crushes, her heartaches, her failed attempts at romance. To keep him in a secret chamber in her heart, where if he wanted to be, she would let him stay as the one she could always count on.

Milo was perfect to her, almost too perfect to risk loving.

**ACROSS THE HALL**, Spinelli was snoring and keeping Milo awake.

Milo threw off his covers and stomped the few steps to the other bed.

He shook the thin arm of his roommate. "Wake up!"

Drool dripped off Spinelli's mouth onto Milo's hand.

"Ugh!" Milo wiped his hand on the sheet. "Spinelli, get up."

Spinelli groaned, rolled over and snored louder.

Milo flipped on the light and started to shake him.

Spinelli's eyes flew open.

"Can you do anything about..." Milo started, leaning over the bed.

Spinelli, freaked out by a man in his bed, cried "No, man. Listen I can't help you. I am not like that."

"Like what? Quiet? I noticed. Your friggin snoring is louder than a freight train. Shut it up."

"I don't snore!"

Milo shook his head in frustration and padded back to his bed. "Whatever. Listen you stay awake until I fall asleep and lets pray I can sleep through all that snoring you don't do."

"Whatever you say, New..."

"Don't!"

"Newman."

Milo told him, "When we get back home, I never want to see you again, Spinelli. You see me walk the other way."

Spinelli was shocked. He said, "That's harsh, man. I was just joking."

Milo pulled the cover over his head.

For a while the room was silent and then Spinelli stared to sing, his voice getting progressively louder as he went on, "_If you'll be my bodyguard,  
I can be your long lost pal!_

_  
I can call you Betty,  
And Betty, when you call me,  
You can call me Al!_

_You can CALL ME AL!" ( Paul Simon)  
_

Milo jumped out of bed and started to beat Spinelli with a pillow. "Stop singing! No more. Not another word!"

He hauled back and flung the pillow at Spinelli's head.

Spinelli cried "UNCLE!"

**JASON COULD **take no more. All sense of reasoning had slipped out of his head as Carly's body, slid up and down over his side with her every breath. All his nerve endings were on full alert.

For a second he ignored the signal from his brain that said, _Retreat! _

His voice was ragged when he moaned her name. She woke up to find his hands cradling her face and a moment later his mouth on hers.

When he pulled back she said, "Don't stop."

Jason rolled on his back. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

Carly moved over him, placing her hand on his jaw, she looked down at him. "Do you love me?"

Tears came to his eyes. The only light in the room was moonlit, but Carly didn't need artificial light to see him. He was the only one in the dark about what they were to each other.

She repeated softly, "Do you love me, Jason, or not?"

His words were ragged, "You know I do..."

Her lips were back on his in an instant. Soon he rolled her onto her back, his hand slid up her bare thigh. He pulled back, breathing hard.

Carly groaned in frustration. She said, "Your call. It's always been up to you. It can be now or later. But it won't be never. That isn't an option for us. Not for us, Jase."

He whispered in anguish, "It's not that simple."

She smiled, loving that his weight was still on her, that they were here talking about this. That they were even a possibility.

Carly told him, "I don't want simple." Her lips kissed his cheek then moved to his ear, "I want you."

She sighed.

And that was it. He was done for.

Jason's hand moved up her thigh, under her shirt. Her eyes drifted close. For a few minutes they were together drifting toward paradise, a place that they could only find with each other.

"AHHHHHH!" Lulu's scream burst into the air, freezing them both.

Then they were jumping out of bed, in parent mode once more, to save her from whatever unknown danger lurked on the other side of the adjoining door.


	13. MIC KEY

**Thirteen MIC- KEY Mouse**

Jason and Carly found Lulu standing on a chair in the corner of her hotel room.

Jason had his gun out, and Carly stood behind him.

"What is it?" Carly asked.

Jason eyes darted around, seeing no danger.

"Gross! Gross! Yuck!" Lulu cried

"What? A spider?" asked Carly

Lulu rolled her eyes. "I don't care about spiders. It's a rat!"

Carly yelped, pushed Jason aside, and jumped on the bed. "Where is it?"

"Under the bed," Lulu said

They shrieked in unison. "Kill it, Jason!"

He holstered his gun, letting out a long breath. "Kill what?" he asked Carly "She

probably imagined it."

Right then they all heard a rustling sound, like some animal was chewing plastic.

"EWWWWW!" Lulu and Carly cried.

_Pound. Pound. Pound_.

"Lulu!" Milo called out from the hallway "Are you okay?"

He tried to kick in the door but the table blocked the way.

Jason shook his head at this scene. The mouse, a tiny baby one, darted out from under the bed causing Carly and Lulu to scream loudly.

_POUND. POUND. POUND_. "LULU!" Milo yelled

Jason walked into the next room and toward the door to open it and tell Milo to calm down. But before he could, just as his hand reached out to twist the handle, the door was kicked open by Milo. It slammed into Jason's head, sending him straight to the ground.

Milo stood over him, his gun out. He stepped over Jason and ran to the adjoining room.

Spinelli peeked inside, "Is Alky back, Stone Cold?" He was shivering in fear.

Jason stood up again. "No. There is nothing to fear around here except that teen terror."

Jason walked into the hall to check and see if any neighbors were disturbed by the yelling.

An elderly couple stood in front of a room down the hall. "You okay, dear?" asked the woman

"Fine. Sorry for the noise." Jason said "My...kid... just had a bad dream."

"Oh, completely understandable," the old man said

"Sure. Sure," his wife agreed "How old is your child?"

Jason shook his head, wearily. "She says she is eighteen but I have my doubts."

The couple looked at him with confused stares.

Finally the woman asked, "Do you know you are bleeding?"

Jason felt his forehead with his hand, there was a cut. "That would figure. You know?"

They nodded.

"Yeah, with my current luck.. it would figure." he grumbled, thinking about the moment that was interrupted with Carly " I think this kid is going to be the death of me."

He walked back into the room, leaving the old couple muttering "Poor thing" to each other.

**Jason found Lulu **still on the chair, Carly and Spinelli standing on the bed, and Milo chasing a mouse around.

"What kind of roach motel do you have me in, Morgan?" Lulu complained

His voice was incredulous. "Do I have you in? You snowed me in, Spencer."

"I wasn't driving. No one ever lets me drive. I am eighteen years old, you know."

"I would like to see that birth certificate."

Carly butted into the bickering, "You're bleeding, Jase."

"Yeah."

They shared a look, both of their minds on lovemaking that had started before this Mouse Debacle.

Milo tripped over Lulu's shoes and tumbled to the ground, the mouse ran over his hand.

Spinelli said, "You're supposed to be my bodyguard. Can't you do your job?"

Milo reached up and yanked Spinelli's foot, making him fall off the bed into a heap on the floor.

The mouse ran toward Lulu, who shrieked like she was in a haunted house.

"AHHHHH!"

The phone rang. Carly scooted across the bed and answered it.

"Hello?... Yes, there sure as hell is a problem. Your hotel is infested with rodents... yes it is. It is! I am looking at a mouse and it ain't named Mickey... what? Don't talk to me that way! Do you know who I am?"

Jason said, "Carly."

She caught his eye, and passed him the phone.

He listened and answered, "I understand." He hung up.

Milo and Spinelli were wrestling.

"You like touching me." Spinelli taunted him as they rolled around. He said this just to piss off Milo, even though Spinelli thought they could be friends if Milo would lighten up.  
"Very brokeback, bodyguard."

Milo pinned him down, the mouse ran right up to Spinelli neck, then darted away. "AHHHH! Sorry, Milo, just joking. Let me up."

Milo glared at him.

"Enough!" Jason announced. "Pack it up. We have just been kicked out of the I No Tell Motel."

"Where?" asked Lulu

Jason gave her an annoyed look. "Here!"

Lulu said, " This place is called Sid Northwell's Motel."

"Pack it up!" Jason barked at her

"I am not getting off this chair with that creature on the floor," Lulu said "This whole disgusting place is infested with rodents!"

They glared at each other.

Milo stood up and asked, "I could carry you?"

Lulu smiled, "You are so nice!"

Jason rolled his eyes.

Lulu saw him and asked snottily, "May we break the five feet rule, oppressor?"

Jason told Milo, "Deliver Princess Spencer to the car. Could you? NOW!"

Milo scooped Lulu into his arms, grabbed a blanket to wrap her in, and they left.

"You have five seconds to get your crap together Spinelli," Jason said "Five , four.."

"I hate when you do that counting thing." Spinelli said as he ran from the room.

Jason started shoving Lulu's clothes in her bag.

"Man, what a shame, huh, Jase?" Carly asked

He grunted, miserably.

She said, "Well, there is always another night, another No Tell motel. Let me know if you want me to find one."

Carly jumped off the bed and ran into the other room, closing the door to keep the mouse out. She started packing, with only one last glance at the bed.

**IN THE CAR**, Milo sat Lulu in the backseat.

Before he could let go of her, she cupped his cheeks and kissed him, letting all the desire she had to love someone, love like a wildfire, show.

She eased away first, her fear overtaking her need. "Was that okay?"

His eyes stayed on hers but he didn't answer. His heart beat so fast he could not find any words.

She looked down, "I don't know what I am doing sometimes. I just want to...connect...oh, you must think I am pathetic."

"No."

Lulu looked up. After a second she smiled. "How did I go so long without noticing you, Milo?"

"Because of Dillon, I guess," Milo answered.

He stepped back and then added, " I should go get dressed. You can put on some jeans when I bring your clothes down."

"Okay."

He went to close the door and she said, in a rush of words, "Will you promise me something? When we get back home, me and you, we stay... friends, we stay in each other lives, we keep our Soul Mate Pact. Promise, Milo?"

In a soft voice, one that would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life, he said "I promise."

Milo went back into the hotel, leaving her locked in the car.

Lulu's skin felt warm, from the kiss and the look he gave her. She thought, _I will never forget this road trip._

(_I'm so afraid to love you, but more afraid to lose_

_Clinging to a past, that doesn't lend me to choose _

_Once there was a darkness, a deep and endless night_

_You gave me everything you had, _

_oh you gave me light_

_And I will remember you_

_Will you remember me?_

_Don't let your life pass you by_

_Weep not for the memories ) ( Sarah Maclachlan_)

**IN THE HOTEL ROOM**, Carly was dressed and packed. Jason slid on his leather jacket.

"Ready to go?" he asked

"I hate to leave this room," she told him.

He studied her. Everything in him was a jumble. He wanted to be in that bed with her, yet he wished he didn't want that. It was the most dangerous thing he could imagine.

Jason wished he could commit to the future Sam kept offering- the baby, the marriage. She kept bringing it up and he kept putting her off.

Not because he was waiting on Carly, he would not put it that way. Yet, he was. He was.

He knew he was.

"Carly, I can't..."

She raised a hand and stopped his words.

"I know all about what you can't do." Her words held no anger "You think about _endgame_. You think that is what we boil down to. What will happen on the day we hurt each other again some how."

She smiled at him sadly and continued, "But what you never think about is the time between now and then. All that middle. The middle is our life, Jase. And one way or the other I will spend mine with you. You run away, I will find you. I have to. You make my heart beat."

"I will never leave you. Don't fear that."

Carly moved close to him, "I don't. And I don't fear you not coming back to me. Because one of these days you will see how cruel it is to not give me what I deserve. And I do deserve it, Jase. I deserve your love."

She held his eyes for a long moment. Then moved past him and grabbed her shopping bag of clothes and bathroom supplies. She left the room with her head held high.

Jason said softly, when she was gone, "But we don't usually get what we deserve. Not people like us."

**SPINELLI snuck **out of the room while Milo was in the bathroom dressing. He found Lulu in the car, in a pink night shirt, with a blanket over her.

"Oh Blonde One."

"Hey."

"You know you have options beyond Crazy eyes and Richie Rich."

"Oh yeah?"

Spinelli raised his eyebrows up and down. "We could be like Bradagelina. Or the TomKat of the East Coast. We could be so smokin hot that Holly wood would be begging us to star in our own reality show. They could call it Jackal Loving."

Lulu pushed down her laughter, not wanting to hurt his feelings, "I don't see that happening."

"Oh, come on. I'm more than just a genius. I know I look intimidating. It scares the chicks off. Like Dreamy Dolly and The Goddess. They think I am too much man for them."

Lulu smiled.

Spinelli asked her, in a voice he hoped sounded like a player but actually sounded like a used car salesman, "Up to taming the tiger?"

Lulu bit her lip, trying hard not to crack up. "I wouldn't want to get between you and Sam."

"What? Do you know something? She wants me?" he asked excitedly. He started to primp his hair "Of course she does. I suspected as much. Damn, that will be hot. Oh man. Sorry, Lulu, I will have to rescind my offer to you."

"That's okay. I understand."

"Oh Blonde One, you have to help me plan how to get around the Stone Cold Factor. I can't get pumped full of holes for stealing his woman."

"I wouldn't worry about it. You know karate."

Spinelli nodded. "I better brush up on my skills."


	14. The Sweet Escape

Jason was the last one to walk out of the motel. He found Milo and Lulu in the back seat, Carly in the front, and Spinelli in the driver's seat.

Jason wrenched open the door and drug Spinelli out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, mega harsh!"

"You aren't driving."

"I have my license! And the only accident I ever had, man, that was the fault of that suicidal deer."

Jason leaned close to Spinelli and whispered, in a no nonsense tone, "You see that woman in there?"

He nodded towards Carly. "I will never put her life in your hands. So forget about it. Now get in the backseat. And if you want to make it home in one piece I suggest you stay very, very quiet."

"I hear you, man. I smell what you are cooking."

"No," Jason said "no cooking, no eating, no more breaks. Just get in."

Once they were both inside, Carly said "Okay the first stop we need to make-"

Jason whined like a bratty teenager "Stop?" He drug the word out to five syllables.

"Is at a all night diner," Carly finished her sentence "where you can buy me coffee and Lulu can change out of her nightgown."

"Will Milo have to carry the princess in there too?" Jason asked

"You aren't getting to me, Morgan." Lulu said from the backseat. "I like being called princess."

Carly ignored them and told Jason, "And then after that you may drive us back to Port Charles."

"Oh, may I?" Jason asked "Thanks." He looked in the back seat. "Am I the only one in this SUV who actually wants to go home?"

No one answered.

Jason turned back around. "Unbelievable," he grumbled

If only Lulu had screamed a hour later than she did he would be too mellow to snark at them but being interrupted at that point, after waiting so many year, had him in a spin.

Spinelli said. "I don't have a home, man. I got a e-mail at my Grammy's house that said I was kicked out of the dorms because Professor Marquez rat finked on me about hacking. I was hoping, Stone Cold, you might let me stay with you?"

Jason looked at Carly, "Please tell me that he did not just ask me what I think he asked me."

"I am afraid he did," Carly answered.

Jason looked horrified. He barked "All right, buckle up, kids! Lets go! Now. Now. Now."

"I think you should let him stay with you." Lulu said "After all you got him in this mess with Alcazar."

"I did not!" Jason cried.

"You did so!"

He let out a breath, realizing their was no reasoning with her. "Okay, Milo buckle Spencer in. And all of you back there, no more talking."

"No talking for you!" Milo cried

Lulu and Spinelli looked at him.

"What? Are we not doing that anymore?" Milo asked

Jason started the car and peeled out quickly.

Lulu fell onto Milo. His gently righted her again. They smiled at each other.

**LATER ON AFTER THE DINER**, they were all in the car and driving north.

Carly turned on the radio and started to sing along to Gwen Stefani.

Carly sang, " _If I could escape and _

_recreate a place that's my own world _

_I could be your favorite girl , forever,_

_Perfectly together_

_Tell me boy now wouldn't that be sweet?_

_the sweet escape"_

Lulu joined in, looking at Milo, " _If I could be sweet, _

_I know I've been a real bad girl _

_I didn't mean for you to get hurt _

_We can make it better_

_Tell me boy wouldn't that be sweet? _

_the sweet escape_."

Jason smiled, despite himself. These Spencer girls could be adorable at times, he admitted to himself.

Then Spinelli joined in, badly out of tune, "_So baby, times getting a little crazy_

_I've been getting a little lazy _

_waiting for you to come save me!_

_I can see that you're angry_

_by the way _

_you treat me ._

_Hopefully you don't_

_leave me._

_Want to take you with me !_

_If I could escape _

_And recreate a place as my own world _

_And I could be your favorite girl,_

_forever, _

_perfectly together _

_Tell me boy, now wouldn't that be sweet_?"

Jason switched off the radio.

"Fun Killer! Oppressor!" Lulu ranted

Jason answered his cell phone. "Yeah, hold on."

He passed it to Carly. "It's Jax."

Because her cell battery was dead Carly had been leaving Jax messages to call Jason's phone.

Carly's face fell into a sad expression as she took the cell phone and said, "Hello."

Jason pulled off at the next exit. He parked at a rest stop where buses, semis and other cars were jammed into all the other spaces. People milled around outside.

Carly said to everyone in the car, "I'm going to step outside to take this call. Be back in a second."

Lulu told Jason, "We should stop in New York City on the way home. I have always wanted to see TRL."

Jason ignored her.

She started to poke his shoulder. "Did you hear me? We have to go right past the city anyway, so why not? Just one more pit stop."

"I wouldn't mind seeing TRL," Milo said

"TRL! TRL!" Spinelli chanted

"_Ja-son_...please," Lulu whined

He was looking forward when he asked calmly, "You are kidding, right? You don't really want us five to go prancing around New York together, do you?"

"Prancing?" Lulu mocked "No, walking will do. We could make signs and stuff. We'd be on TV. You might even get interviewed. Though you are a little elderly for TRL."

"Whoever TRL is, he is going to have to get by without any of you seeing him," Jason told her.

"There is nothing exciting to go back to Port Charles for!" Lulu cried "You can do me one little favor, can't you, Jason? I don't ask for much from you!"

Jason turned around. "If you are good for the rest of the ride home, the next time I talk to Luke, I will ask him to take you to New York, okay?"

Lulu looked down and mumbled, "Thanks a lot."

Milo could see and felt every bit of her sadness over her father.

Carly got back in the car. For a moment her and Jason looked at each other, and then she shook her head slightly, no.

Jason knew Jax was not backing down on his ultimatum.

Lulu asked, gently, "You okay, Carly?"

"I can deal. I always do, somehow."

"What did he say?" Lulu asked

"Jax gave me one week to move to Australia or else it is over between us. I understand why he thinks he can't love me in the same town as Sonny but that doesn't change what I have to do."

"You don't think he's worth moving for?" asked Spinelli "Is he a loser?"

Lulu gave him a dirty look that said Shut up!

Carly answered, "Not at all. Jax is wonderful. But he is just one of the dreams I had for my future. The rest of them all live in Port Charles, and even if I could take my boys, I can't pack up the rest of my dreams in a box and move to the other side of the world." She glanced at Jason. "And I can't leave them behind."

Jason started the car.

Lulu cried, "Wait! Wait!"

"No LTR," Jason said

"TRL," Milo corrected helpfully.

" I need to get out of the car for a minute," Lulu said

Jason's hand shot out and locked all the doors.

"I have to pee!" Lulu ranted at him "Is peeing allowed still?"

Jason unlocked the door. "Milo escort her there and back."

Spinelli jumped out of the car. "I could use a smoke.. I mean air break...uh, yeah."

Jason watched them all walk toward the tourist center, getting lost in the crowd of people until he couldn't see them anymore.

He looked at Carly, "Are you plotting a way to get Jax back?"

She asked him, "Are you plotting a way to get _me_ back?"

Jason just held her eyes. He could tell she wasn't joking, and in that moment realized that never before had he done that for her. She kept putting herself out there for him, but he never tried to win her heart over some other guy or choice.

He had let her down.

But because he was so worried about his own damn heart getting hurt he couldn't see that before.

Carly looked away.

"I'm sorry." And in the tone of his words, without even looking at him, Carly knew what he was referring to.

"Okay."

So he was forgiven, but still not hers. Carly figured she should count this whole trip as a battle won. Jason saw her in a new way, loved her like in the old days for a few minutes, and realized all his running meant she was constantly the one fighting for them.

But all the little battles won over the years still never brought him all the way home. Carly knew she had to keep fighting... but she was so very tired now.

Still she couldn't give up.

Jason stared through the windshield, at the people milling about, all those families. His family started with Carly. If he couldn't see the Quatermaines again, he would be fine. He would only miss a few of them anyway. If Sam left him, he would mourn but go on.

But Carly had to be by his side from now till the end.

And still, he knew, he was letting her down every minute he pretended he was not in love with her.

"Hey," he said softly holding out one hand toward her. She linked their fingers.

Jason continued, "I'm going to make everything right. I will do that. You believe me?"

"Without a doubt." Carly said, but her eyes were still clouded with pain. "One of these days."

"Soon," he promised

She smiled. "Yeah?" Right then, the burden on her heart lifted. Jason was starting to fight for them too, she could see it in his eyes.

Milo got back into the car, alone.

Jason tore his eyes away from Carly and asked, "Where are they?"

"On a bus full of high school band members on the way to New York City," Milo said, matter of factly.

"That can't be!" Jason said, reeling from this news.

"Yes it is, sir. I watched Spinelli and Lulu get on and ride away myself."

"WHAT BUS? WHERE?" Jason looked all around.

He threw the car in reverse and got out of the parking space.

"Is there some reason Lulu wants to go to New York?" Carly asked

"To see TRL," Milo told her

"Makes sense."

"How can you say that?" Jason asked her "It makes zero sense. Anyone see that bus?"

He was flying down the expressway past cars and semis.

"How does she plan to get home?" Jason asked, more panicked than usual. He could cope with killers, with thieves, with cops, but not defiant teenage girls. "She doesn't even have any cash or a phone."

"She does now, sir."

"Why, Milo? Why? Why would you give that to her?"

Milo told his boss, "She's awfully pretty, sir."

"Do you hear this guy, Carly?"

"She is very pretty, Jason."

"You are seeing a doctor when we get home, Milo. Lulu has stolen all your good sense. She's made you insane and you don't even realize it."

Carly smirked at Jason's idea that love could be cured with a visit to Lainey.

She asked Milo, "Why didn't you go with them?"

"Lulu said Jason would probably fire me for that and that I shouldn't." Milo said

"Oh, Jason wouldn't do that," Carly said

Jason grunted.

"There's the bus." Milo pointed off ahead of them. "In the third lane on the left."

Jason sped up until he was behind it. "Carly, I don't like your cousin very much."

"I think you do, Jason, secretly."

"That must be a secret that I am keeping even from myself then."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

"Please, don't go there now. Can't you see this is a crisis? Lulu has run away from home!"

"No, just from the SUV." Carly told him, then busted up laughing.

"If you think this is so funny then you can be the one to tell Luke about it," Jason said

"Fine. The next time he is in this hemisphere I will do that."

"You have to punish Lulu, too. Tell her she is grounded." Jason commanded

"She's eighteen."

"She can be grounded until she is twenty one then."

"Wouldn't talking to her be easier than locking her up?" Milo asked "She just needs to know someone cares about her."

Jason glared at him in the rearview mirror. Just the fact Milo would speak so boldly proved, in Jason's mind, that he was now certifiable and would soon be in a room at Shadybrook.

"You are not part of this punishment planning," Jason said "You have your own grounding coming."

" But sir,"

"And no talking till we get to the city."


	15. TRL

**Chapter Fifteen TRL**

Jason pulled alongside the bus. "Was it a Catholic school, Milo?"

Milo was not sure if he should answer, since only moments before Jason decreed he not speak again until they hit the city limits.

Jason added, "It says Sacred Heart on the side. Carly, can you see her on there?"

"That bus is full of nuns, Jase. Just nuns. No kids."

"Damn!"

Carly called Milo's cell phone. Spinelli answered, "Hey," he laughed " is Stone Cold

like freaking or what?"

"Do you know what Jason does for a living?"

"Sure. Bang. Bang. They all fall down."

"And you still think this is funny?"

Spinelli sobered up. "Aww, Sunny D, I thought you would be on my side."

"Jason comes first for me, Baby Jack."

"I smell what you are cooking."

"Can I speak to my cousin now?"

Lulu came on the line. "Please no lectures. All I want to do is have some fun before I die. I'm sick of missing out on what I want!"

"I get that."

"You do?"

"Of course. But Jason is a little...stressed out over your stunt. Do you know where the bus is heading for in the city?"

"The Hilton on 42nd street. The band is staying there."

"I need you to meet us at the front desk. Right away. No detours, kid. Okay?"

"Just one detour," Lulu said "TRL."

Then Lulu hung up.

"Good job," Jason said. "You handled her perfectly. Now we just meet them at the hotel, gag them, handcuff them and go home."

"Jase..." Carly tried to call her back but Lulu didn't answer.

"Oh no. What?"

"We can do all that. Well minus the gagging and handcuffing part, but first we have to make one more stop."

Jason shook his head. He wouldn't ask. No, he did not even want to know.

"TRL." Carly said

Jason took the phone and called Stan, "I need some background information. Find out all you can about TRL in New York City."

"The TV show?"

Jason said "Hold on" and then spoke to Milo, "I need you to give me a precise answer. No more crazy talk. What is TRL- a person, place or thing?"

"A thing, sir."

"A tv show thing?"

"Yes, sir."

Jason said to Stan, "Yeah and I need to know where it tapes and how I can get tickets. Get back to me as soon as you can."

Jason hung up and tossed his phone in the console. "I can't believe she gave me the slip."

Carly said, "Don't worry so much. Lulu can take care of herself and she has Spinelli to help her... well, she can take care of Spinelli too if it comes to that. We could just go to the hotel and meet Lulu there later."

"How can I not worry?" Jason said as he weaved in and out of traffic, pressing the gas pedal down till they were flying at 90 miles an hour. "You watch the news! People disappear everyday never to be seen again. I should know. And she's so young..."

Carly thought of horror stories of teenage girls who vanish without a trace. "You are right about that."

"So you agree we need to go to TRL and find our girl?" Jason asked her

"Yeah, I think we better."

Milo tried not to let Jason's fear affect him but he was already doubting if he did the right thing by not stopping Lulu from getting on that bus. Still when she gave him that begging adorable little look of hers, and then touched his arm, there was no way he could deny her anything.

Stan called back and gave them the address of the building where the show took place. Unfortunately there was no way to get tickets before today's taping. They would have to search the crowd outside for Lulu.

**IN TIMES SQUARE**, Lulu and Spinelli bought a disposable camera, a poster board and markers. They made a sign that read

**The Jackal's Bringing Sexy Back.**

Lulu said, "I miss Milo already. Maybe I should call Jason and ask to talk to him."

"You call Stone Cold and he'll stick a homing bird on us."

"A homing bird? You mean a bug?"

"He'll track us down. That guy Stan is no Jackal but even he can execute a homing bird. Hell Grammy could do a homing bird."

" A real bird isn't involved in this, right?"

Spinelli looked at her like she was the odd one.

Lulu said, "So what do you want to do till the show starts?"

"Find the Naked dude!" 

"Um... no. I'm not going to watch a naked anyone with you."

Spinelli started scanning the crowd. "He's always here."

Lulu looked around. 

"There he is!" Spinelli called out.

She followed his gaze and lo and behold there was a naked dude. A naked cowboy playing a guitar.

Spinelli grabbed her hand and drug her toward him. "I want a picture of all of us together!"

Lulu protested but minutes later was saying "Fromage!" as French tourists snapped a photo of The Blonde One, The Jackal and The Naked Cowboy.

When she was right next to the long blond haired, boot wearing city cowboy, Lulu was relieved to discover he had underwear on.

**LATER THAT AFTERNOON**, Jason, Carly and Milo parked the car in a parking garage and headed off to search Times Square for Lulu.

But as soon as they got near the TRL studios a herd of teenage girls surrounded them, making walking impossible.

Jason said to Carly "She better be here."

He searched the crowd for her face.

He was frustrated but beneath that actually very worried about the teenage girl and her reckless ways. Carly held the title on driving him crazy but her cousin was certainly the next generation in that category. Doing insane things just for the ...fun.. in it.

None of this was fun to him.

But, he also, wouldn't have missed it for anything. Jason smiled as he remembered Carly saying _"One day you might look back and think of this trip as the good old days. Our good old days."_

Jason was so lost in his thoughts of how this Road Trip had changed his way of thinking, of how he would miss spending long hours with Carly just seeing her smile and joke, that when he snapped out of it, two teenage girls were standing next to him, giggling loudly and talking about some guy named "Timber Lake."

Jason had no clue who that was but they seemed to be very excited about seeing him.

Jason glanced to the other side and saw Carly but no Milo.

"Where'd he go? I swear if that boy ran off..." Jason started

"He's right over there. Getting a hot dog. I told him he could go." Carly said

"He's eating again. This whole trip all they want to do is eat and sing songs."

"It's called having fun. And when we find Lulu we need to stop for dinner too. They are growing children."

"You're overfeeding them," Jason said as he stumbled when the herd of teens started rushing forward to see who was in a limo that drove by.

They left Jason and Carly in their dust.

"You've only been feeding them twice a day," Carly countered.

"That is more than enough to keep them alive," Jason said.

Carly smiled at him. "Jase. You don't want them to keep calling you The Fun Nazi, do you?"

"I really don't care." Jason said. A moment passed, their eyes met, she moved closer to him, on instinct. " What? You don't think I'm a Fun Nazi, do you?"

"Me?" she laughed and wrapped her arms around his waist "The best times of my life were with you, Jase. I think you are a hell of a lot of fun.." her voice dropped.

Jason had the overwhelming urge to kiss her, right there on the sidewalk in New York City.

"We should look for her some more..." Jason said, not moving away. People passed by them but to both Jason and Carly they felt alone.

"You should kiss me," Carly said "And never stop."

Jason smiled.

"Oh? That didn't send you running?" Carly asked "Interesting."

"I don't know what I am doing..."

"What happens on the road trip stays on the road trip. If that is what you want." Carly waited for his answer but all before he could they heard singing.

They turned and saw a Naked Cowboy and Spinelli doing a duet.

**LULU SPOTTED MILO at** the hot dog stand. She ran up the street and gave him a excited hug, like she hadn't seen him in days instead of hours.

"Hey! Did you come looking for me?" she asked, happily.

"Jason insisted."

"Oh man, the warden is out to ruin TRL for me."

"He's quite worried."

"Were you?"

"I know you can handle yourself and you could always call me if you get in trouble. You know that right, Lulu?"

"I do now."

They smiled at each other.

"LESLEY LOU SPENCER!"

"The warden calls..." she said groaning "Want to make a run for it?"

"Better not."

"All right." She turned around to see Carly and The Naked Cowboy getting their picture taken by Spinelli. Jason stood next to them glaring at Lulu.

When Lulu and Milo made it back to him, the first thing Jason said was "You had Carly and I very worried."

"You sound like Monica," Lulu said

Jason's mouth dropped.

"Seriously, you have the guilt thing down perfectly. The _I am so disappointed in you _routine."

Jason said, "That was a low blow."

Lulu laughed.

Jason smiled. Gently he tried to broker a deal with her, " Don't run off again. Okay? Even once we are home. Next time I will listen to you and consider what you ask for. But if I say no, then Lulu, it is no. Understand?"

Lulu considered it for a moment. "Why are you being nice? Get some?"

Carly laughed. Spinelli snapped a picture of Jason's shocked face.

"Do we have a deal or not?" Jason asked

"Okay, deal." Lulu said

Milo smiled. "Now wasn't that easier than yelling at each other?"

For once Jason thought Milo was starting to make sense.

**THEY ALL **stood on the sidewalk in the screaming throng of teens during the whole TRL show, then all got back in the SUV and drove towards Port Charles.

Lulu fell asleep leaning on Milo's shoulder. He just watched her, falling more and more for this beautiful and sweet young woman as the minutes passed.

Spinelli listened to Milo's ipod, which kept him relatively quiet. Other than his occasional mumbling of the wrong lyrics.

Carly tried not to grow sad the closer they got to home, she did her best to believe that Jason would not go back to acting like they were simply very good friends.

Jason was stuck in his own head, driving by not really seeing the road, thinking of how to make this all right.

To give Carly what she deserved, to give them a chance to make more good old days.

**IN PORT CHARLES**, Jason dropped Carly off first.

She stared at him for a long moment, doing her very best to be strong and cope no matter what way the chips fell.

She turned to Spinelli and Milo and said, "Take care, guys."

"Bye, Sunny D."

"See you , ma'am."

"Ma'am?" Carly mouthed to Jason.

He said "I'll walk you to the door."

To the back seat he said, calmly, "This SUV moves and someone dies."

At her door Carly laughed, "Great. I am a ma'am."

Jason chuckled.

Carly said, "So, I'm going to change clothes and then head over to Sonny's and get the kids. You going home to Sam?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Carly turned and started to unlock her door. Jason said softly, "Carly..."

"Hmmm?"

"That was a hell of a road trip, huh?"

She looked over her shoulder, gave him a sexy grin, and said "Hell of a road trip, Jase."

Carly was inside, with the door closed, leaning up against it, reliving the moments they were in bed together when Jason knocked. She opened the door and then his lips were on hers again. Jason hadn't been able to leave without having her in his arms another time.

She drug him inside and down onto the stairs, his familiar weight resting on her in a way that felt like heaven. Jason was kissing her neck, when she sighed, and he thought about how much he wanted to hear those sighs for all his days to come.

Which meant...he pulled away. "I have to go."

"For how long this time?" she asked softly as they stood back up.

"Get the kids and I'll be back by the time they go to sleep. We can... talk.. about all this." His eyes were on her lips. He forced them back to her eyes, which were dark with desire. Jason had to use all his will to turn toward the door.

"Jase? Do me one favor okay?"

He turned back around. She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him, and pulled him into a kiss that scorched her love for him onto his lips.

When she leaned back she said, "Don't forget who we are when you leave here."

_NOTE- Three chapters left. Not many laughs but lots of romance for at least one of these couples. _

_I will be updating often. The rest of the chapters should be posted sometime within the next week._

_Happy reading,_

_Sara_


	16. Don't Ever Let Me Go

**Note- if you took the time to leave a review on this story I just want to say thank you. You made it fun to write for me. **

**Chapter Sixteen Don't Ever Let Me Go**

Milo woke Lulu up as they pulled up to the Quatermaines. 

"Hey," she said sleepily, her mouth curving into a smile. She couldn't stop doing that around him.

"You're home," Milo said, softly.

Lulu looked out the window and sighed. "Lucky me."

She turned again and caught his eye, sadness immediately drifting into hers. They stared at each other, both wishing they could drive off and start another road trip.

(_Don't you wanna go for a ride?_

_Just keep your hands inside._

_And make the most out of life._

_Now don't you take it for granted!_

_Life is like a mean machine_

_It made a mess out of me _

_It left me caught between_

_like an angry dream_

_I was stranded_

_And I'm steady but I'm starting to shake_

_And I don't know how much more_

_I can take _) ( Rob Thomas)

Spinelli cried, "At least you have a home! I'm homeless! A homeless genius hacker with no internet access."

"You can stay with me," Lulu said "There's room. The Q's won't even notice you, more than likely."

"The Jackal go unnoticed?" Jason asked "Hmm. Doubt it."

"You want custody of him?" Lulu asked

"He's all yours," Jason said.

"Stone Cold, won't you miss me?"

Jason shook his head.

"Harsh! Can we at least do lunch sometimes?"

Jason raised an eyebrow.

"He'd love to," Lulu answered for Jason. "Jason is just shy and doesn't express himself very well. Right, Morgan?"

"Princess," Jason smiled and said, with laughter in his voice, "Get out of my car."

"Love you too!" Lulu said "Smooches, oppressor!"

"Smooches!" Spinelli called as they piled out of the car.

Lulu looked back into the back seat, "See you soon, Milo?"

Milo nodded. He liked the idea of getting to know her better but had an uneasy feeling they might never be as close as they were on the road trip. He wished it could have lasted forever.

And even that might not be long enough for him.

He watched Lulu walking up to the door.

Jason let out a breath, watching Milo's sad expression, then barked out "Well, go after her!"

"Really, sir?"

Changing his tune, from what he usually said the whole trip, Jason told Milo "Don't let me stop you."

Milo bolted from the car.

Jason smile. _What a bunch of goofy kids_, he thought

"Wait up!" Milo jogged over to her.

Spinelli said, "Forget to say good bye to me, Crazy eyes? I didn't think you cared..."

Milo gave him a look.

Spinelli said, "I'll tour the grounds while you two talk. See that boat house you told me about, Lulu. Maybe Sam would like to meet me there tonight..."

Spinelli wandered off mumbling about "The goddess, how do I love you, let me count the ways, I love you like I love crunchy peanut butter..."

Lulu and Milo's eyes met. He said, "Thank you for inviting me on the trip. You didn't have to.."

"I did. For my sanity. I knew you would make it a lot easier to handle being stuck with Jason and all his rules. " she paused, thinking of every moment of the trip.

When Milo listened to her talk, caring about her feelings, when he smiled and made her feel special, when he kissed her on a dare, danced with her, carried her through a hotel lobby in her night gown. Then she had kissed him, in the car, with her whole heart.

_That kiss can never be duplicated again_, Lulu thought, _it was too precious, too perfect, it was a one of a kind._

She added. "You really came through for me, Milo."

"Anytime."

She moved closer. "I believe you mean that."

"I do." He reached out and took her hand.

The door to the mansion opened.

"Where have you been, young lady?" Edward roared

Dillon and Tracy stood there next to him.

"What is this?" asked Dillon, looking at them holding hands.

"She's replaced you, son. Obviously." Tracy said

"What? You did?" asked Dillon, despite the fact he had a girlfriend.

Lulu looked at Milo, "I have to go deal with them. They're my family. Sort of."

"I understand."

She hugged him.

"Bye," her words were soft as a breeze brushing over his skin. In the one word he thought he heard:

_I'll miss you_

_I could love you_

_But I don't know if I'll ever get the chance._

Milo wasn't positive but he thought he heard the sound of a heart breaking. And it was his.

Then Lulu pushed past the Quatermaines and back into the world where her old life took place. The world far from Milo.

It felt even more lonely than it used to.

(_This is it  
now_

_Everybody get down_

_This is all I can_

_take_

_This is how a heart breaks _

_You take a hit_

_now_

_You feel it break down_

_Make you stay wide awake_

_This is how a heart breaks _) ( Rob Thomas)

Milo prayed to God he was wrong about the last look he saw in Lulu's eyes, the last way her words sounded. But he didn't think he was.

**LATER THAT NIGHT**

**AFTER READING **the kids bedtime stories, Jason walked down the hall and stood in the doorway of Carly's room. Earlier he had spoken to Sam, telling her all about the trip and what happened.

Now it was time to talk to Carly.

He leaned against the door frame. Long moments passed where they stared at each other.

(_So here we are alone again._

_  
Didn't think it'd come to this. _

_  
And to know it all began  
with just a _

_little kiss_) ( Janet Jackson) 

Carly spoke first. "Should I ask? Or are we back to pretending nothing is going on?"

"Ask."

"Are you ready to come home yet, Jase? Don't you think you've kept you're family waiting long enough?"

She knew phrasing the question that why would get to him.

Softly he teased, "When are you ever, ever, ever going to start playing fair?"

"I'm saving that for my next lifetime."

"Let me guess you have a plaaan," he drug out the word "where we end up together in that one too?"

"Got it all figured out."

He smiled.

Carly couldn't wait any longer. She jumped off the bed, drug him in the room and closed the door. She angled herself in front of him as he rested against it. Her hands moved to cup the back of his head, her fingers moved slowly through his hair.

"Mmm," Jason said

"I should have snowed us in years ago," Carly told him

Words were the last thing on his mind as he pulled him into a kiss as hot as a wildfire.

She eased away first. "Tell me that you are mine again."

"Aren't we beyond words?" He started to kiss her neck, her shoulders, and just as he was moving lower Carly told him, "Nice try. I want the words."

Jason straightened and met her eyes. Then he moved around her and sat on the bed.

"I haven't figured it all out in my own head yet," he started "All I know is I couldn't stay away..."

(_I've come too close to happiness  
To have it swept away _

_  
Don't think I can take the pain  
No never fall again) _( Janet Jackson) 

He reached out his hand to her and took it. Standing between his legs, she looked down at him and said, "You can tell me anything. If this is just about sex..."

"Come on, Carly. Don't say that."

"No?"

"If only it could be that simple," he joked, his eyes twinkling.

"Hey!" she laughed

He pulled her onto his lap. She wrapped her legs around his back. "Ah, my favorite place in the world," she sighed.

His hands ran up her back and into her hair as his mouth moved over her skin.

She said into his ear, "I want you to make love to me everyday for the rest of my life. You up for that?"

Jason stilled. " I still think we'll both end up broken."

Carly met his eyes, making sure he was there with her and not lost in his head where he could only hear his own doubts and fears screaming at him.

Meaning every word of it with all she was, Carly told Jason, "I think we'll both end up whole."

He wanted to believe her. And though his defenses were crumbling, though he wanted to drown in the feeling of her touching him, and him kissing her, and all that crazy love she poured all over him, it still made him tremble to think of diving into this.

But, at this point, it was more than he could stand to leave. It would be like tearing a piece of himself out to walk away right now. It would be like... what he always feared losing her would feel like.

Jason Morgan realized he was in already, in all the way, his choice was made.

Carly whispered, "Trust me with your heart. Can you do that? This whole 'being on a break' thing is getting really old. I want you back. I miss you like crazy. Your my love, Jase, my only real love..."

"Why do you always make me cry?"

Carly smiled. "Because you know I am right!"

Jason laid back on the bed pulling her forward.

"I thought I could hold out.. I didn't tell you no all those times to hurt you.. I really thought I could not come back to you," he said

"You know I want you more than anything else in this world. But if don't want me.. in your heart... then.." her voice broke "you should leave, Jase."

Then she sighed, "I can't believe I am kicking you out of my bed."

"Hey now, it's not that I don't want you in my heart. You are in my heart. You're my heart. There is no doubts about that. And I'm not going anywhere, not without you, not anymore."

Carly was crying as she kissed him, and their tears mingled together.

(_Cause I'm falling in love with  
you again_

Hold me  
Hold me 

_  
Don't ever let me go _

_  
Say it just one time  
Say you love me _

_  
God knows I do  
Love you _

_  
Again ) (_ Janet Jackson)

Jason sat up again, pulling off his shirt. "You are going to have to forgive me. Again."

"Okay," Carly agreed happily because she could tell by his voice, by the way his eyes were dark with desire for her, that he wasn't about to break her heart, that he was back for good. "For what?"

"I can't wait a second longer," he said.

She stood up and started to take off her clothes.

"Let me," he said

Her eyes were shining as he slid her top off. "I just want you to say one more thing," Carly told him between kisses.

"Since when do you like talking this much during this?"

"Oh, I always like talking about you and me. Favorite subject of mine."

Jason picked her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and he carried her to the bed.

"Say," Carly ordered as she smiled up at him "that you were crazy to stay away so long."

"Okay, I was crazy. You make me crazy. My god Carly..." his last words were moaned as her hands roamed over him.

"I love this..."

"I know that..." Carly smiled sexily

Minutes later, looking in his eyes, she told him. "I love you, Jase."

His mouth seared with hers igniting a heat that made words impossible. But later, when she was sighing in his ears, Jason told Carly "There should be a word that means more than love..."

At that moment she didn't answer him but in the years to come she did think of them as two people who found something better than love, because what they had was that and more and more and more.

It was Jason and Carly Morgan, the best three words ever strung together as far as she was concerned.

_Coming up- An epilogue_


	17. Jake

EPILOGUE

This chapter is dedicated to all the J and C fans who still believe in this couple and especially J C Morgan and Ashyen, for reviewing nearly every chapter I have ever posted. Thanks!

This chapter was written because of the conversation Jason and Carly had in chapter 3.

**OVER 17 years after the Road Trip**

**Spring**

_HONK. HONK._

The teenager bounded down the stairs, her blond ponytail bouncing behind her. "That's my ride." 

"Hold up, little girl," her mother said "Where do you think you are going?"

"No where," answered her father for her.

"Dad," the teenager whined, dragging out the word.

_HONK. HONK. HONK._

"If he doesn't stop honking that damn horn," Jason said to Carly

Carly turned toward their child and said, "You know the rules. Your friend has to come up to the door, knock and then come in and meet us."

"We're in a rush. The boat leaves in twenty minutes!" Jake cried, her name was short for Jacqueline Jean Morgan.

"She thinks she's going on a boat," Jason said to Carly, laughing and shaking his head.

He turned toward his daughter, dead serious now, "You're not going on any boat."

"It's just a three hour cruise on the Cassadine yatch. Spencer throws the most killer parties."

"Full of his killer family," Jason said "I don't think so. You're not going around any of them unless I am with you."

_HONKKKKKKKK._

The door opened and Morgan walked in. "There's some long haired loser in the driveway on a motorcycle."

Jason said, " A motorcycle?"

He walked to the front door, looked out and yelled "She's not coming!"

He slammed the door.

_HONK. HONK. HONK. HONK._

Jason spun around and yanked back open the door, a murderous look on his face.

"You never let me do anything!" Jake yelled at her dad.

Carly rushed over and pulled Jason back inside. She waved for the boy to come in.

"At least let him introduce himself," Carly said. "You have to let Jake have her first date sometime."

"No, I don't." Jason said

Morgan laughed.

His sister slapped his arm. Jake whispered to him, "You know this is unfair, Mor! You're supposed to be on my side. It's us against them. When I tell Michael you sided with them over me..."

"You're gonna _tell _on me?" Morgan asked, incredulous.

Jake and Morgan had a playful back and forth teasing sibling relationship. Michael was already married and he guided both of them with a firm hand. Jake worshipped him, and Morgan idolized him.

Carly said to Jason, "If you don't give her some freedom she will only rebel and start sneaking around like I did at her age. What harm can one date do?"

Jason gave her a look. "I'd rather not find out. She's a baby!"

"She's sixteen."

"Exactly!" Jason said, he dropped his voice. "You need to be on my side. It's us against them."

"Uh, hey, yeah, what's the hold up?" asked the guy standing in the doorway. He had long shaggy brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

Jake smiled at him.

Carly said, "Come in." She introduced herself, Jason and Morgan and then said "And you're name is?"

"Cole," he said in a lazy drawl.

"Cole what?" Jason asked giving him a lethal stare.

"Huh?" the kid asked.

"Just Cole?" Jason asked "Like Madonna? One name will do?"

"My Donna? Your Donna who?" asked Jake

Carly turned to her daughter, in a surprised voice she questioned

"You don't know who Madonna is?"

Morgan said to Jake, "She was popular in like 1985."

Jake rolled her eyes. "_Okay_, then. Mom and Dad this is Cole. Now you know his name. Can we go? Please?"

"Do you have a last name Cole?" asked Jason

"Yeah, Coleman." the kid said

"Cole Coleman?" Jason asked in a suspicious voice.

"No, man, Tyler Coleman. But call me Cole." the kid said in a DUH voice "You coming Jake or what?"

"Or what," Jason and Morgan said at the same time.

"Ugh, traitor," Jake whispered to her brother before dashing over to her father.

"Daddy! I'll only be gone a few hours, okay? Please let me go."

Jason gave her a look that clearly said _no way_.

Jake whined, "_Mom_, talk to him."

"Jason, I'm sure Tyler is a nice boy who comes from a nice family. Right?" Carly asked Tyler

"Guess." Tyler shrugged.

"See?" Carly said to Jason.

"See what?" Jason asked her." I don't see anything but some juvenile delinquent in my house THINKING he is taking my daughter out of here."

"I'm going!" Jake cried

"No, you are not." Jason told her

Father and daughter stared at each other. Neither one backing down.

"Why don't we all sit down and get to know each other better," Carly said. "That way my husband will feel more comfortable with you spending time with Jake."

Tyler shuffled over to the couch and plopped down. "What you want to know? My pops owns a bar. My mom was a stripper who ran off when I was a baby. But that's why me and Jake get along. We both come from outcast families."

Morgan asked, "Who you calling outcasts?"

Tyler shrugged.

Jake said, "Cole, sorry about my parents. They are so...old. You're lucky your dad is cool."

Jason shook his head in frustration.

Carly said, "Jason, if you don't let Jake go today then when are you going to let her date?"

He wanted to say never. Instead he just gave his wife a look.

Morgan grinned, then suggested "I'll go with them." He met Jason's eyes. "She won't get out of my sight."

Jake groaned.

Carly said, "That sounds like a good compromise."

"Fine, fine. Lets go." Jake said

Jason told her, "Be home in three and a half hours."

"What?!" Jake screeched.

Jason raised his eyebrow.

"All right, dad." Jake said. She gave him a big smile and mouthed, "Love ya."

For all her temper tantrum and _plaaaans_ she was still a daddy's girl at heart.

"Be careful." Jason said to her and Morgan. "Find out where the life jackets are on the yatch. Keep your cell phones on. If the boat crashes..."

"The boat is not going to crash, Jase." Carly said

"I got it handled." Morgan said

"Bye Mom," Jake said "See you in three and a half hours."

She rolled her eyes, and Carly chuckled.

Once the kids the gone, Carly said to her husband. "Isn't it fun raising teenagers?"

"No."

"I tried to warn you..."

"I know."

"You would have thought you learned when Michael was a teen that you can't be on top of their every movement."

Jason disagreed, "I was with him, with Morgan, and I will be with Jake. Those kids aren't getting away with anything."

Carly wrapped her arms a around his waist. "With you as their dad, I'm sure they won't."

He dropped a kiss on her forward. "We have three hours alone..."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the couch. "You read my mind."

The moment his wife's mouth met his, Jason forgot everything but her.

And Carly remembered everything that happened from Jake's to the road trip, from the unplanned pregnancy to the day their daughter was born, from the moment Jason admitted he loved her and never wanted to be without her again till now.

Together they were a perfect mix of past, present and future. Parents. Best friends. Lovers. Soulmates. Family.

They were The Morgan's, just who they were meant to be.

NOTE- There is one more part to go. The Milo and Lulu epilogue.


	18. I shall be too

**Epilogue Part B**

**18 years after the road trip, Winter**

Lulu sat at the counter of the diner. She stared down at her coffee, feeling foolish.

"He's not coming, is he?" She asked Lucas, who stood behind the counter.

Her cousin gave her a sad look.

When Lulu stepped into the diner at noon that afternoon Lucas had been thrilled to see her.

She now lived in Pennsylvania and hadn't been back to town in a few years. She left engaged to Dr. James Martin who, for a short while, worked at General Hospital. But the wedding never happened.

Just like every relationship she ever had something didn't work out in the end. With Jamie, he ran off with his ex on the night before the ceremony.

After five hours of waiting for Milo her spirit was sinking and Lucas could see the hope draining out of her face.

Lucas reached down behind the counter and pulled out a phone book.

"Call him."

Lulu sighed, "That would look pathetic. Milo probably doesn't even remember our little deal. Are you sure he isn't married?"

"All I know is what's in the papers. It's not like we run in the same circles." Lucas said. "The last time I read anything was when his fiancee died."

"God, I should have done more than send flowers." Lulu said "I should have come home for the funeral. Every e-mail and letter since has gone unanswered. Why did I wait so long?"

Lucas had called her the day after it happened, ten months ago, telling her to read the story on the Port Charles Herald Online. Bridgett had been standing in the middle of the living room of the home she shared with Milo when she opened the package and the mail bomb exploded.

Lucas poured Lulu more coffee. "You're here now. Don't leave town without talking to him."

"You're right. Even if our Soul Mate Pact doesn't mean anything to him, he's still one of my oldest friends. I have to take a shot." Lulu said.

She fingered the medallion hanging around her neck. "I really thought he would have come."

_Three years before_

_Lulu opened the door of her home, the same one she grew up in as a child._

"_Hey," she said with surprise._

_In the few months she had been dating Jamie, who she met at Milo's engagement party on a night when she was feeling a little sad and sorry for herself, her and Milo had drifted apart._

"_Heard a rumor you're ditching this Podunk town." Milo said_

"_I was going to come and say goodbye. But you know I'm no good at those." Lulu stepped onto the porch. "Lets sit."_

_When they were seated next to each other she said, "I don't know if I'll make it back here for your wedding."_

"_All right." It would be easier to say I do to another woman if Lulu wasn't sitting a few feet away, Milo believed._

"_You won't be mad?"_

"_Have I ever been able to stay mad at you, Lulu?"_

_She smiled._

_He took his necklace off and pressed it into her hand. _

"_No, Milo, I can't. It belongs in your family."_

_He said softly, "That's why I'm giving it to you."_

_She looked at him, seeing the man who had been her friend through every high and low point of the last fifteen years. In that moment, her heart broke a little because no matter how much was between them it would never be everything she had hoped for, not now that they were bound to marry other people._

"_I shouldn't ..." she started_

_Milo interrupted, " When you come home again, if you want, I'll take it back. But while you're out there in the world, on your own, you should wear it."_

_She spoke the words engraved on it, "Where you go, I shall be too."_

_He leaned over and kissed her cheek, then whispered "Always, Lulu."_

**Lucas opened the phone **book, asking Lulu "You need his address?"

"No. I have it." she said

Reaching into her purse, she pulled out some money.

"It's on the house for Spencers." Lucas said

"Thanks." She stood up. "Lets have a family dinner before I leave. I want to see your kids and hubby."

"You know where to find me," he said, motioning to the diner.

She turned and walked out of the diner. Right outside the doors she saw Milo standing there, wearing a long cashmere coat, his hands stuck in his pockets.

Snowflakes fell down over them.

She lost her breath, taking in the fact he was here and wondering if he had remembered. They hadn't seen each other in three years and hadn't spoken of their deal in more than ten.

He said her name slowly, savoring the sound of it on his lips.

"Lulu."

Tears pricked at her eyes, she felt silly for crying over seeing him but couldn't help herself. For years after that road trip they were great friends, sometimes more, but had never said they were in love with each other.

Instead she called him her back- up boy. And when other guys made her cry or feel not good enough to love, Milo was there to cheer her up.

And a few nights he had been there to make love to her.

But Lulu had never let him know how much she cared for him. Maybe because she was sure that would ruin the _one of a kind _bond between them.

That was her biggest regret in life now, not loving him when she had the chance.

A slow smile spread across her face, until she was grinning like crazy at him. "Funny seeing you here..."

He looked at his watch, his voice was light as he asked. "I thought we had a date? You trying to weasel out on me?"

"Never."

Then she moved across the courtyard, he opened his arms and she went into his embrace, sighing with happiness to feel his warmth.

Home.

She was finally back home. And Lulu Spencer, in that moment, vowed to never be foolish enough to leave this man behind again.

Milo stroked her hair, "I missed you something awful."

She looked up at him, "Well, you are stuck with me for life now. There are no out clauses in our Pathetic Loser Deal."

He leaned down and gave her a soul achingly sweet kiss. "I don't need any."

In Lulu's mind she heard him say, eighteen years ago to the day, _"Where you go, I shall be too_."

THE END

Thanks for reading my silly and sweet little tale of what might have been on that road trip.

I don't currently have any plans to write another humorous fic.

The next story I plan to post is called I'm With You. 

The premise is:

Milo does something big to show his love for Lulu after Dillon has hurt her.

I really loved writing it! Milo and Lulu are a couple that could go anywhere at this point. I feel like they have a ton of potential.

Bye for now,

Sara


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